Ballade No2, Op38
by Janis 70
Summary: AU. They conquered even the most impossible obstacles. But will Buffy and Angelus make it through the next century when their love will be tested to its limits? B/Aus (Buffy's a vampire) Starting back in time in the 18th Century
1. Friendly Disclaimer

**Just as a friendly disclaimer,**

 **I refer to Buffy as Elizabeth throughout this story because she's a vampire from the early 18th Century. And to be authentic with that time, they didn't really use nicknames unless it was from a loved one or something.**

 **Elizabeth is Buffy's evil alter-ego, much like Angelus is Angel's.**

 **Enjoy the story, leave a review, and keep being groovy,**

 **Peace and Love**

 **P.S. I think if you know a little world history, you'll find the** **references in this story fun ... just saying...**


	2. Chapter 1

**East London, England 1710**

 **Denton House**

A quartet of eloquent violins strings slowly strummed down filling the room with romance. The low cello gave the orchestra a gothic undertone. A line of females stood on one side of the dance floor and the males on the other. They stepped forward meeting one another in the middle, raising their right hands and touched them together. The couples slowly moved around in a small circle keeping rhythm with the sombre music.

In the centre of the long row of dancers, Elizabeth Summers kept her eyes away from her partner but felt his intent stare watching her every move. She turned in the opposite direction now raising her left hand and moved around him. Elizabeth turned and felt his warm breath on her bare shoulder sending an unpleasant shiver down her spine. Her eyes squeezed closed praying silently for the song to be over and she could escape.

God must've heard her pleas because the song ended soon after she prayed for it.

Elizabeth spun around to her partner and curtsied then moved away weaving herself into the crowds before he could catch up to her.

Nearing the door going out to the gardens, Elizabeth looked over her shoulder to see her dance partner scowling at her father standing on the other side of the ballroom with her mother.

Her eyes widened seeing her father turn his head into her direction. Elizabeth stepped around the door hiding in the darkness desperately.

She took a deep breath when the coast was clear and stepped away from the laughter and loud chatter of the guests and walked deeper into the gardens until she found a marble bench near a pond.

Elizabeth took a seat and placed her hands on her lap closing her eyes listening to the soft chirps of the frogs and the gentle splashes of the water moving side to side from the breeze.

It was quiet. Elizabeth enjoyed the quiet more than anything.

Her life was anything but quiet.

She had come from a wealthy family. Her father is a well-known businessman of sorts, he often worked with Noblemen across London. His charisma and innovating mind made him successful. Everyone loved Hank Summers—Except for his own family.

At home, behind closed doors, when he no longer stood in the spotlight, Hank was a mean alcoholic and a gambler. His favourite gambling game was with his daughter. From a very young age, he knew Elizabeth was going to be a beauty. She was going to be a shining decoration of his achievement when she would one day marry a Duke or some sort of high Lord. In a heartbeat, Hank Summers would pawn his daughter off to the wealthiest bidder with a powerful name.

Her father was a very intelligent man. He knew the value of his daughter; with her long yellow hair, sun kissed skin, exuberant smile, and her bright green down-slanting rounded eyes captured every wealthy suitor's attention. She is known throughout the London cities upper-class society as, Beautiful Creature or in Latin, Pulchra Creatura.

All of the high societies gentlemen lined up to have a chance to call, Elizabeth their prize. Arguments have broken out, money passed from hand to hand in backdoor deals in order to be the husband of this young beautiful woman.

* * *

"You are magnificent." A dark and mysterious elegant handsome man stood off to Elizabeth's side watching her closely. His Eastern European voice purred, sending a cool shiver through her body. He stepped forward and slowly moved around her taking in her illuminating beauty. "What is a woman of your stature doing alone in the darkness of night?"

Elizabeth lifted her eyes to his breathtaking face. Her lips parted softly in a small gasp. She was unable to tear her eyes away from his black as night eyes boring right through her. "Maybe she's lonely." She finally found her voice.

The mysterious man smiled softly, "I find that difficult to believe. You are surrounded by wealth and beauty." He took a seat beside her.

"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked.

He smiled but did not answer her question directly, "The question is not who I am. As I would know without a question that you are Elizabeth Summers."

Elizabeth watched him intently drowning into his dark, almost black, penetrating eyes.

The mysterious man smiled then reached out a soft hand cupping her cheek. "Those men are not worthy of you. They will fail to succeed in the challenge."

"Challenge?" She frowned.

"In understanding your beauty."

Elizabeth removed her face from his hand looking away. "That's all I am known for."

"Not your outer being." Elizabeth turned her head to the man with surprise. "Inside. What makes you who you are. Your spirit. Your fire. It is so bright... it's brilliant." His eyes darted around her face with fascination. "I have never seen a soul so radiant and pure before. You are truly a gift."

"A gift?"

He nodded, "You have such a wonderful gift."

"What is my gift?"

"Death is your gift."

Elizabeth's face fell, snapping out from his thrall appalled by his words. "Death is not a gift." Her eyes lifted to his. "No matter how miserable I may be at the moment. Death is never a gift." The anger inside of her chest boiled at the thought.

The mysterious man pushed back a long blonde strand of hair from Elizabeth's neck behind her ear. "You are so young. There is so much I have to teach you. You have power, young Elizabeth. I can show you an eternity of things you have never seen or have ever heard of. You will have eternity to discover yourself. To find your happiness, your desires **."**

Elizabeth stared at him taking in his soft words letting them sink into her hypnotised mind. "My gift?" she asked.

He nodded letting her long fingers slide down the sharp line of her chin.

Elizabeth looked away from the handsome man to the pond then turned her head back to him. Her eyes held assurance and fire that he longed to see for the rest of time.

"Show me," Elizabeth said with certainty.

The mysterious man reached out his hand and caressed her soft neck. Elizabeth stared at him locked into his eyes unable to look away as he bent down slowly and sank his fangs deep into her neck.

Elizabeth's eyes flew open unable to move or to cry out from the pain. She gasped feeling a mixture of pleasure and agony course through her body as the man drank her blood with a hungry need.

Listening to her dying heart, the man moved his head back to look at her. He kept a hand against her cheek as he bit into his wrist and brought it up to her lips.

"Drink." His deep voice whispered seductively into her ear.

Elizabeth weakly took his wrist then put her lips to it and sucked his blood slowly.

The mysterious man closed his eyes feeling ecstasy as her weak fingers tightened around his arm feeling the power of his blood.

The sounds of the aristocratic ball fell into the background and silenced filled around the pair sitting in the tranquil garden.

 **(79 Years Later)  
**

 **Paris, France 1789**

 **Bastille**

The streets ran wild with angry rioters raging against the French Royal Army in the new revolution.

Elizabeth walked arm and arm with her Sire in the darkness of the night with a calmness that heavy contrasted with the chaotic disarray of the country.

The couple moved around the large gathered protestors shouting in french and sang songs of their revolutionary cause.

Something between the crowd caught Elizabeth's attention. Her hand went to her lover's arm, halting his movements. He glanced down at her then followed her gaze to see a large group of common men charge down a cobbled street holding pitchforks, axes, muskets, and torches.

"I believe there will be a massacre, my dear," Elizabeth said with a soft smile.

"We must take advantage of this, dragul meu ( _dear)_." The Dark Prince raised his childe's hand up to his lips and smiled down at her softly. "Go." He said softly with a small smirk.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes on the group coming closer towards the armoury. Her hand wrapped around his and gave it a squeeze before letting it go and stepped back into the darkness waiting patiently for her attack.

* * *

The night drew on, the rioting mob turned into sheer madness. Elizabeth wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and dropped a now dead protestor to the ground with a thud. Her cold blood boiled with irritation as she moved around the crowds. A group of males gathered in the background turned their heads seeing the beautiful woman.

A rugged looking man with a long messy brown hair nudged his friend and nodded toward Elizabeth as she passed in search for her lover. She lost him in the chaos.

The rugged man stood up straight and followed Elizabeth with a grin, "Eh bien, bonjour, jolie petite chose. Que diriez-vous et je trouver un endroit privé et baiser? (Well, hello, pretty little thing. How about you and I find someplace private and fuck?)" he laughed wagging his brows.

Elizabeth spun around to the man shouting profanity at her. She watched him for a moment looking him over. He appeared to look and sounded like every other commoner; ragged, dirty, and crude. She raised a high brow at him and noticed the member in his breeches hardening against the material. Elizabeth reached his eyes and warmly smiled at him taking him by surprise.

The rugged man stepped forward falling into a trance of her green eyes. He stood before her not hearing his friends hoots and hollers, but only seeing her.

The vampire swayed to the right then to the left watching him follow her. Elizabeth raised her manicured fingers and sliced his throat with her nail. His eyes widened sudden broken from the trance. His hands went to this bleeding throat then fell to his knees at her feet. Elizabeth raised her hand licking the blood staining her fingers clean and caught the group of men standing together stare at her terrified. They took off in opposite directions as fast as they could.

Elizabeth smirked to herself then turned bumping into the large mass standing behind her.

He was a tall broad shoulder specimen. His features appeared dark with alluring intimidation. Her eyes went to his face, his features were strikingly handsome; if she had breath, she would have lost it. His brown eyes appeared to be warm and soulful and yet, Elizabeth could easily see the sadistic animal he truly was. In all, he was absolutely flawless.

Elizabeth's felt her demon scraping at the surface begging to break free. She did not let her emotions show on her face. Her beautiful features held a neutral expression.

The corner of his lips slanted into a sinister smile that would have stopped her heart.

"Angelus."

Elizabeth blinked out from her stupor and turned her head when she heard her lovers velvet, hypnotic voice. She watched as he stepped to her side exuding confidence and power.

"Dracula." Angelus sneered with a hatred dating back decades. Angelus surely blamed the Count for revealing the mystical truths about vampires to the humans when he got famous around the world. And Dracula had also owed him eight hundred pounds.

"I thought you were galavanting in Prussia with your Sire?" Dracula's dark eyes ran up and down the well-dressed vampire.

Angelus frowned, "I was on my way to Vienna when the Beast staged such a wonderful massacre to impress me. I dare say, he did well." His Irish accent flowed gracefully into his words capturing Elizabeth's attention. "I'm afraid my visit didn't last long. The Svea of Priestesses interfered with my enjoyment. He offered a pact to kill the pests."

"And you declined," Elizabeth said taking a keen interest in the younger vampire.

Angelus' eyes locked with Elizabeth's. Her voice was just as he imagined; breathless and lispy. He smiled darkly, "Aye, but it did not come without a price." Angelus gestured to the fading bruise on his right cheek.

"Where is your Sire?" Dracula quickly drew Angelus' attention from his lover. He did not like the way Angelus cooed over her. They seemed entirely too comfortable with one another.

"She'll be on her way I reckon." Angelus forced himself to tear his eyes away from Elizabeth's beautiful face.

Dracula raised a brow pushing away the fierce jealousy he had to swirl in his chest. "Forgive me, I failed to introduce my companion, this is Elizabeth Summers."

"Pulchra Creatura," Angelus said as he painted her features into his memory. "Ye're just as memorising as they say."

Elizabeth eyed him stared at him curiously, "As whom would say, sir?"

"Your legend." Angelus slowly moved around the vampiress with hungry desiring eyes. He stood in front of her and reached out touching her cheek with his fingers as if she was a fragile artefact. "Such a sinister dark goddess. Oh, I've heard many tales of ye, Madame."

Elizabeth raised her brow with interest, "What sort of tales?" her voice was a soft, delicate whisper that still stood out amongst the chaos around them.

"Only of the most wicked kinds of tales that Ol' Countess Báthory could never compare to achieve." Angelus dropped his hand standing tall having a sense that his sire was near.

"You flatter me, sir." Elizabeth smiled softly creating a gentle glow on her face. "I'm afraid I hadn't caught your name."

"'Cuse me," Angelus bowed his head. "I am, Angelus." He raised his eyes to her face and found the dancing smile across her luscious lips utterly amusing.

Elizabeth took him in with careful consideration. Yes, he was arrogant, charming, and utterly obnoxious but she saw so many qualities about him that intrigued her. "The Scourge of Europe." She said with a smile.

"Aye, it is now my turn to be flattered." Angelus gave her best charming smile.

"I think it's time to be going, trandafirul meu _(my rose)_." Dracula took Elizabeth's hand and wrapped it around his arm. "This place is tiring me." He looked around seeing a stack of dead bodies most of which he and Elizabeth added themselves.

"Yes, I think we've done enough damage here. It's quite a bore." She saw a familiar face heading toward them. It was Darla, Angelus' sire and presumed lover. She raked her eyes over the vampire. Darla was a beautiful woman; that was no secret, she held grace that radiated confidence that was infuriating.

"Count Dracula!" Darla grinned snaking her arm around Angelus' arm.

Angelus smirked watching Elizabeth's face darken for a millisecond. He knew, right then that he had her interest.

Darla looked at the blonde haired woman beside the Count and narrowed her eyes. Elizabeth was a vampire to strive to be in their world. She embodied everything a Dark Queen should be; powerful, intelligent, calculating, creative, passionate, and beautiful. It also did not escape Darla's attention that Angelus seemed to have an interest in the beautiful vampire, just like every other male on the earth.

"Elizabeth," Darla forced a sweet smile onto her face. Though she was older than the vampiress; approximately a hundred years older than her, she still portrayed as much respect as possible. Elizabeth happened to be the childe and lover of one of the most revered Master Vampires in history, the Count Vlad Tepes III. "You look well," Darla said running her eyes up and down the other blonde.

"As do you," Elizabeth said politely. "Vlad, I want to leave. This place reeks of filth." Elizabeth's hand over Dracula's arms gaining his attention.

Dracula looked down at her and took her hand bringing it to his lips. "Of course." He turned his attention to Angelus and Darla. "Enjoy your stay. I have a feeling there is going to an interesting turn of events very soon." Dracula smiled wrapping Elizabeth's small thin hand around his arm and led her the pair and disappeared in the rioting violent crowds.

Angelus followed them only looking at Elizabeth. He felt a strange sense of hope in his chest. It was a feeling that was foreign to him. He never hoped. Whatever he wanted, Angelus took. Most of the time he took it violently. But this was different. He hoped that she would look back at him. Just one glance. Anything to tell him that she was interested in him.

Darla watched her lover with uneasiness. His eyes never tore away from the beautiful vampires face when they spoke. She completely captured his attention leaving nothing for Darla. Angelus hadn't spared her a single glance since she arrived.

She watched a small, pleased smile grace upon Angelus' handsome face. She had never seen that look in Angelus' eyes before. His expression was completely lost on her. He appeared to look as if he were... in love.

Darla's eyes went back to the couple and caught Elizabeth turning her eyes away from Angelus before she disappeared into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 2

**Paris, France 1789**

 **Chateau**

Angelus sat on a cushioned chair in the darkness of a basement wine cellar. He crossed his legs thinking deeply, lost in his own mind. He could not keep his thoughts from wandering back the gorgeous dark creature in the blackness of chaos.

He had heard the folklore legends of Pulchra Creatura. Her passionate brutality rivalled his own. For the first time since he had risen from the grave, he wanted something he couldn't have.

Angelus scowled with anger imagining the vile Dracula's hands running all over her perfect tight body. His cock filling her; giving her pleasure.

Angelus growled and shot up from the chair onto his feet. "Ye know what really upsets me?" Angelus paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. "When things are not goin' the way I wish." The Master Vampire turned his head to this victim nailed to the wall and a heretic's collar around his neck.

Angelus crossed the room to his latest victim. The vampire reached for a blood-stained rag and dabbed the man's forehead. With fascination, Angelus watched the distress in the man's eyes. Angelus waited patiently for a moment for the man to make a sudden movement of his jaw that would undoubtedly be plunged by the spikes threatening him.

"There is this woman. Oh, she is a pretty little lass." Angelus sighed dreamily imagining Elizabeth in his mind. "She is utterly breathtaking. Her hair is yellow as the sunshine... But, unfortunately, she is furthermore _engaged_ to another. I was really hopin' ye could advise me of ways I could gain her interest and steal her away from the worthless demon."

Tears escaped from the man's eyes terrified and in agony.

Angelus blinked and shrugged, "Well, ye're no help to me at all." He spun on the heel of his boot back to the chair.

* * *

Closing the bedroom door behind him, Angelus crossed the room exhausted from his long and eventful day with his pet still hanging downstairs in the basement. Another night and not a trace of the vampire goddess that plagued his every thought. Another night infuriated with frustration.

Angelus shrugged off the elegant black frock coat from his shoulders and tossed it across a vacant chair. He untied the white cravat from around his neck, then unbuttoned the matching black waistcoat. His ears perked hearing the door creak open and clicked closed behind him.

Without looking, Angelus rolled his eyes, "Darla, I am not in the mood to tend to ye'r desires tonight. Kindly, go away."

He paused with a frown when he hadn't heard the door open or close behind him, indicating her departure.

Angelus growled with impatience and spun around on his boot heel. He bit back the surprise when he saw the woman standing against the door. "Elizabeth..." Angelus tried hard to cover the surprise from his voice but failed, much to Elizabeth's amusement. "What do I owe this pleasure —in such a scandalous setting, I must add." He smirked running his eyes over her.

She did not respond staring at him with a hint of a smile dancing across her lips.

"I thought ye be halfway round the world with the Dark Prince?"

Elizabeth did not respond.

He released an unneeded breath, "What? Are ye not speakin'? Cat's got ye'r tongue?" Angelus took in the glimmer dancing in her green eyes. He could have sworn what he saw in them was desire.

All that Angelus wanted and needed to say to her had suddenly felt meaningless. Without thought, Angelus crossed the short distance between them. He cupped his cold hands around her face and dipped his head, capturing her mouth in a fiery kiss. She immediately welcomed his passionate kiss, tasting his tongue that duelled in an epic battle of dominance against her own.

Elizabeth's thing fingers slid up his half opened shirt and around his neck. With one hand, she untied the ribbon holding his brown hair back. Her fingers weaved and combed through his soft hair. She moaned into their kiss intoxicated by his spicy copper taste.

Needing to feel her in every way Angelus had envisioned in his mind, he lifted her from the ground and turned to the large feather bed behind them.

His intention was to lay her across the bed but during the short journey, Angelus tripped over an article of clothing on the wooden floor and smashed her back against the wall. Elizabeth did not seem to care as she pulled on his oversized shirt desperately needing to feel the cool skin of his muscular body.

Angelus' mouth moved from her lips and travelled down her neck to the exposed skin of her chest enticing him. His hands went around her back finding the buttons. Elizabeth's hands skated down his chest to the front of his black breeches. Angelus grinned in their kiss as she unfastened the buttons of the breeches.

With success, Angelus was finally able to remove the gown which pooled around her ankles. Angelus broke away from her mouth glaring down at the corset covering her slim figure. With annoyance, Angelus suddenly ripped off the corset from around her torso and tossed it over his shoulder to the ground. "Feckin' women and their needless fashions."

Elizabeth girlishly giggled. If Angelus' heart could beat, it would've skipped three beats at the sound of her laughter. She jumped up wrapping her hooking her arms around his neck wrapping her legs around his waist. She reached up to the top of her head and pulled the hairclip holding her curls together in a neat pile. Angelus toed out of his boots and watched with fascination as her luscious yellow fell over her shoulders and down her back. She was truly a heavenly creature of darkness.

Angelus reached down between them, grasping a hand around his standing cock and guided himself into her with a single thrust. He paused memorising the perfect feel of her coolness surrounding him that gave him a strange sense of warmth.

Breaking the kiss, Elizabeth's lips parted with a gasp as he moved against her. She opened her eyes, locking her gaze with his. She held her hands around his face and capturing his mouth again in a searing kiss of wild passion.

 **Sometime Later**

Sometime between the rising sun and the setting sun, had finally separated Angelus and Elizabeth laying flat on their backs staring up at the ceiling. Outside the window, the streets rioted with angered Frenchmen protesting the Monarch.

Angelus turned on his side facing the black goddess laying beside him. Unable to help himself, Angelus gently brushed the strands of blonde hair from Elizabeth's forehead. She shifted her eyes and turned her chin to look at him. "I thought I never see ye again, lass." The relief that that sat at the bottom of his chest disturbed him.

Elizabeth turned onto her side facing him. "I nearly didn't come. But... You've plagued my every thought since the night of the riot." She lifted her hand and traced her fingers along the long soft line of his lips.

Angelus took her hand and kissed each finger thoroughly before sucking on one. He lifted his eyes back up to her face and held her hand under his chin. "I haven't been able to stop thinkin' about you either. For a month, I've tortured little lassies with yellow silky hair just like yours. I've tried so hard so hard to rid of you... but, there is this feelin' in me chest that is desperately confusin'."

Elizabeth traced a finger starting at the top of his forehead and down the long line of his nose. "It confuses me as well. It's strange, it's almost as if I am warm all over when you're near. Like a sixth sense, I could presume."

"Strangely, I never want it to go away." Angelus surprised himself admitted his true feeling to this woman. "I'm at a loss for what to do." He never showed any sort of emotion, ever. He was the Scourge of Europe after all, a ruthless murderer. Angelus never, under any circumstances has ever shown an ounce of mercy.

Angelus cleared his throat becoming uncomfortable but he was unable to shake it away. Over the last month, Angelus had done the unthinkable, he began to imagine her at his side for forever. As if she were his mate.

The frown tugging at the corners of his mouth, Angelus had never once ever thought about having a mate. Mating was a commitment most demons were terrified to make. Once a demon has chosen a mate, they could never part. For forevermore, they were bound together, never able to part. Having a mate was becoming rarer and rarer because of its everlasting sentence. Darla, Angelus' beautiful Sire has been very vocal about Angelus taking her on as a mate, but he tossed her away. No matter how beautiful and Evil his Sire may be, she certainly was not enough to tempt him. Just the thought of Darla made Angelus' stomach churn with disgust.

 _But Elizabeth on the other hand... She is Evil in its purest form..._ His thoughts trailed off. _Do I want a mate? Elizabeth is everything a dark goddess should be. For the first time, I am contently satisfied. She has proven herself to be an exceptional lover. She would be without a doubt reign as an excellent Queen of the Underworld with meself. She'd be magnificent as my mate._

"Angelus?" Elizabeth's soft voice accented by her English tongue broke his thoughts. "Are you well? Your thoughts are quite loud."

Angelus smirked and answered her question with a kiss, "Aye. I was just thinkin'..."

"About?"

"You." His eyes went to hers. "I was thinkin' about ye're a beauty, ye're unstoppable legacy—which rivals my own. And I wonder..." Elizabeth waited for him to continue. "Why haven't ye mated yeself to Dracula?"

Elizabeth thought for a moment. She had her reasons but how to voice them for a sadistic man like Angelus to understand. "I suppose I kept hold of fairytales of true love." She recognised the amusement in his eyes. "Childish, I know. But with certainty, I know I could never give myself wholeheartedly to Vlad. No matter how much he says he 'loves' me—or what he believes is love. He's not the one."

Her revelation gave him a sense of hope that made him scowl. That is a common feeling he's been having around her; hope.

"Then why do ye stay with 'im?" Angelus asked.

Elizabeth frowned, "He's my Sire."

Finding it odd that a woman as free as she was had kept herself with a demon she neither cared for or liked. "Ye're not bound to him. It awfully seems like he doesn't exactly have ye're attention either."

"That's a very bold statement, sir." She gave him a side-eye glare.

"I only speak the truth. I am not bound to Darla. I am as free as a bird." He smirked fluttering his fingers.

Visibly annoyed, Elizabeth sat up keeping the thin sheet around her naked body. "Oh, yes, let's speak about your whore. Where is she exactly?"

Angelus smugly smiled holding his hands behind his head watching her seethe with jealousy. "I haven't the faintest. Perhaps she went and caught herself against the Slayer." He shrugged.

Elizabeth eyed him a moment longer. Angelus watched her beautiful face soften with a half smile that hardened his cock.

"Tell me somethin' about yeself, lass."

"I thought all of the legendary stories told has given you all the information you needed about me."

Angelus raised his hand and followed it down the long line of his pale back. "Nay, before all of this." Angelus waved his hand around him. "Tell me the tale of ye're past life."

Elizabeth drew her knees into her chest and rested her elbows on them, remembering her past with perfect clarity. "When I was a human, my father used me for his own wealth advantages. He paraded me around London like some sort of show horse while he stole money from lascivious men as they tried to... pay for me. Like a slave." Angelus frowned with rage as the feeling of spite swam through his dead veins. "I was to be married off to the wealthiest bidder with the most prestigious title. Until Vlad saved me." Slowly, Angelus pieced together her loyalty to the Sire. Dracula took her away from a horrible life and gave her a new beginning, Angelus couldn't hate something like that.

He lifted his eyes listening to her speak again, "Most of my life had revolved around pleasing my father and being pretty."

"And ye're mother, what was she like?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes picturing her mother. "She was a quiet woman. She was kind with such a nurturing heart. She knew how nefarious my father could be and yet, she did nothing to stop him. She was imprisoned by my father as well." Angelus watched a small smile cross her face. "As a child, every night, Mother would come into my bedroom and tell me tales of a Princess and her perfect Prince. They would run away together for true love. And before she leaves me to slumber, she'd say, "Love is not finding someone you can live with. It is finding someone you cannot live without, my Buffy—"

"— Buffy?" Angelus looked at her curiously.

If Elizabeth were alive she would have blushed, "It is what she used to call me."

"Buffy... Buffy... Buffy... Buffy..." Angelus tried out the name and clicked his tongue. "I like it. C'mere, my Buffy." He reached out taking her by the shoulders and laid her back against his chest. Her childhood nickname seemed to roll off of the vampire's tongue with perfect ease. Elizabeth closed her eyes and tilted her chin upwards to look at him. "What happened to them?" He asked.

Her fingertips brushed over his chin with her fingers. "I killed them of course and impaled their heads on pikes for the whole city to see. It was breathtaking." She smiled at the memory.

Angelus grinned dreamily, "Mmm, stay with me, my Buffy." Angelus suddenly whispered without thought.

Elizabeth pulled away from him. "W-what?" She turned her body to look at him fully.

Angelus tucked her long blonde wavy hair behind her ear. "Stay with me. We'd be magnificent together. We could take over the world, live in luxury. I can give ye everythin' ye could ever want."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Vlad."

"So? Ye're Pulchra Creatura! The Goddess of the Night! A Master Vampiress with the beauty of a poet's dream! Ye possess power demons crave for!" His excited enthusiasm made her laugh softly.

Angelus held his hand around her face, "Ye're the most revered vampiress that has ever lived. Ye don't need Count Dracula." Angelus sneered. "Ye've surpassed 'im. He can't teach ye anythin' more. Ye never needed 'im. The darkness inside of ye is so pure. Drac has no understandin' of ye'r power. It's fierce, bellowin'..." Angelus lost himself in her brilliant green eyes, hypnotising him, "... astoundin'..."

Elizabeth caressed the back of her fingers along Angelus' cheek. "I must go now before the sun rises." Her eyes went to the bright moon illuminating the black sky.

"Ye're leavin'?"

Elizabeth pulled away from his touch and stepped out of the bed. She began to gather the scattered clothing from the floor. "I am." Elizabeth pulled on the undergarments.

"Stay with me." He said trying to keep his pride and not go down on his hands and knees to beg. Instead, Angelus tried to catch her wrist in which she easily snatched away.

"I cannot," Elizabeth told him decidedly.

Angelus jumped out from the bed enraged by her rejection. He clasped his hands around her shoulders forcing her still. " _Do not disobey me, woman! I order ye to stay with me. Forever."_ The vampire's fingers dug into the skin of her shoulders.

Elizabeth broke out from his hold violently shoving him away. " _I do not take orders, sir. Not from you_ — _Not from anyone!_ " Her breathless voice came to life as anger boiled inside of her chest. Her green eyes flashed gold as her demon surfaced. "Your predominate attitude may work on your spineless sire and every other tart you may have in your bed, but you cannot command _me_."

Angelus growled infuriated not used to having to stand down before. "Ye are a stubborn thickheaded woman!" He had always gotten his way. Angelus was always the one with power. But in spite of apparent anger, he wanted this woman by his side for the rest of eternity. "Stay with me!" He gritted his teeth letting his stubborn pride show through.

"I cannot!" Elizabeth fixed the buttons of her gown and pinned her hair back, taming the wild bed-head that hours of passionate sex had created. "I cannot stay with you, Angelus." Her anger slowly dissipated. "You may not have a connection with your Sire but I do with mine."

"Buffy,"

Elizabeth shook her head fighting the tears blurring her vision as she backed further away from him. "Forgive me." Elizabeth whirled around, storming out of the bedroom room.

Staring at the open door with disbelief, Angelus vamped out taking a chair that was beside him and hurled at the wall, shattering it into wooden pieces. He proceeded to tear apart the room; tossing every piece of furniture across the room. He wanted to vanish any trace of evidence of Pulchra Creatura. Her scent was all around him, on him, inside of him, premaritally engrained into his membrane.

The foreign feeling was foreign for a reason. A demon like him was not supposed to share a feeling that could only be described as _Love._ It sickened him to the core. _What kind of demon am I? How can I feel such a useless emotion?_ Angelus vowed to never sink down to this disgusting level again. Elizabeth Summers was nothing but a common whore to him now.

Angelus growled gathering his clothing and threw them on. He then marched out of the bedroom, needing to gather his thoughts and torture an innocent worthless human.


	4. Chapter 3

**(68 Years Later)**

 **Paris, France 1857**

 **Café**

For the first time in over six decades, the Scourge of Europe walked down the streets of Paris. Clear in his mind, he remembered the beginning murderous riots of the vastly known French Revolution. He took advantage of the chaos to the fullest until he stumbled across her.

For over six decades, Angelus forced himself to never think of the dark goddess. But her beauty plagued his mind. With every woman he has lain since then, he imagined her under him giving him such pleasure. But it was not until he opened his eyes basking in the afterglow, which was short lived, he realised the woman under him was not her and he became outraged.

Angelus entered a café gathered with men and women sitting at the tables in their finest evening wear, chatting quietly amongst themselves as French poet, Charles Baudelaire stood in front of the room holding his new book, _"F_ _leurs du mal"_ _(Flowers of Evil)"_ in his hand.

 _"Toi qui, comme un coup de couteau,_

 _(You who, like a knife,)_

 _Dans mon coeur plaintif es entrée;_

 _(My heart plaintive entry es;)_

 _Toi qui, forte comme un troupeau_

 _(You who, strong as herd)_

 _De démons, vins, folle et parée,_

 _(Demons, wine, and decked crazy,)"_

The poet read aloud.

Angelus turned his head scanning the crowd when a familiar face caught his attention. _It couldn't be._ He frowned waiting for her to turn her head slightly into his direction.

It was her. It was the woman of his goulash nightmares. _Was she still in Paris?_

Angelus heard the talk amongst their clan of people, Elizabeth had travelled to Germany in 1848 when the German commoners upraised against their monarchs. She had impressed Nest; the Master of the Order of Aurelius, with her sophisticated massacre style of slaughtering simpletons. The Master wanted the promising vampire at his side to be his right hand alongside Angelus and ultimately replacing Darla.

When the news broke to the Master that Elizabeth scoffed at the offer, Hell up-roared deciding to channel all of his energies into having the noblewoman join the prestigious order. He had a worldwide search for the vampiress but she was nowhere to be found.

Angelus stared at her memorised eternal youth had been good to her.

Her eyes reached his. Angelus could not tell if she was surprised, happy, or unsettled to see him. Her beautiful face was cold holding no emotion.

Angelus moved around the chairs of people intently listening to the poet, oblivious of the cool vampire greeting.

Elizabeth turned back to the poet listening to his words intently.

Angelus turned his head to the poet taking in his words,

 _"J'ai prié le glaive rapide_

 _(I have requested the quick sword)_

 _De conquérir ma liberté,_

 _(To conquer freedom,)_

 _Et j'ai dit au poison perfide_

 _(And I told the treacherous poison)_

 _De secourir ma lâcheté._

 _(To rescue my cowardice.)"_

Charles Baudelaire read moving his eyes around the room to each face.

Without removing his eyes from the poet listening attentively, he noticed Elizabeth's hand nearest to his resting on top of the table. Angelus slyly reached over to it and wrapped his long fingers around hers.

Elizabeth did not look away from the poet as her fingers laced through Angelus', locking them together.

* * *

Elizabeth wiped the droplet of blood in the corner of her mouth with a napkin then moved her eyes across the café to Angelus who dropped a body to the ground after he had finished feeding.

Charles Baudelaire's slain poetry guests laid scattered on the ground and across tables in pools of blood.

Angelus turned to Baudelaire who sat in the corner with Elizabeth holding a small coffee cup in his hand. "Madame, I must be on my way now." Charles stood from the table gathering his book and placed his top hat onto his head. "It has been an absolute pleasure to finally meet and dine with the infamous Pulchra Creatura and the Scourge of Europe. I hope the evening was presented kindly to you." The Frenchmen said in broken English.

Elizabeth tilted her head up to him and smiled with satisfaction, "You did well Monsieur. I did enjoy your reading this evening."

"Aye, I concur with the Lady. Tell me, is _Le Vampire_ about any certain vampire?" Angelus crossed the room with his usual swagger smiling at the poet.

Charles nodded his head, "Perhaps it's about the most legendary of vampires in all of the lands. Perhaps it is about you." He looked at Angelus. "Or you, Mademoiselle." Charles smiled softly at Elizabeth.

"Nevertheless, you captured the beautiful darkness well." Elizabeth complimented politely.

"Je vous remercie." Charles bowed his head and stood tall moving to the door. "Au Revoir." he waved at the vampires and disappeared into the darkness.

Angelus turned from the door when it closed all the way, finally leaving him alone with Elizabeth for the first time in sixty-eight years. "I thought I'd never see ye again." Angelus broke the tense silence filling the air.

"I could say the same to you as well. Where is Darla?" Elizabeth kept a smooth cool demeanour even though, inside she was screaming and fighting every urge to jump into his arms.

Angelus stepped over a dead body reaching her. "I haven't the faintest idea. Nor do I care. Probably crawled back the Master. Ye've been a busy demon since last I saw you." He smiled darkly.

"I cannot pass a revolution, especially when the people are so dimwitted and angry which somehow makes the blood seem sweeter. It's strangely wonderful."

"Ye had the Master's interest."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Oh, that old man? I want nothing to do with him and his cult. I don't need an 'Order' to help me accomplish my evil doing's. Tell me, if the Order of Aurelius was so elite then why do they galavant in a sewer like scum?"

Angelus nodded his head with a smirk and sat down across from her. "Aye, I can acquiesce to that. How long have ye been in France?"

"Only a month. I did enjoy the Germans. They're like the American's but less moronic." The evil in her eye would have frightened the Devil. "Efficient."

"And the Count? I do not see him about?" Angelus crossed feeling his underlying hatred for the vampire creep through his skin.

Elizabeth watched him closely amused by the inner struggle of unfamiliar emotions fighting inside of him. "I haven't the faintest."

Angelus' head shot up with surprise. "Ye don't know?"

"I do not." A small snickering smile. "He might be here... or he might be there." Elizabeth shrugged. "It is of no concern to me."

Angelus eyed the vampire enjoying the sudden change feeling that perhaps all that had changed was for the better. "Would ye care for a stroll before sunrise?"

A slow smile crossed her heart-shaped lips.

 **Paris, France**

 **Village Home**

Pulling apart and spent from passionate hours of wild sex, Elizabeth and Angelus laid on their backs panting unneeded breaths. Dried blood stained their glistening bodies.

Angelus turned his head to look at her. "Be mine." He whispered.

"What?" Elizabeth's eyes went to his face.

"I want ye with me, Buffy. I never wish to be parted from ye from this day on. I want forever with ye."

Elizabeth stared at him processing his smooth words. "You want to be mated?" She looked at him with disbelief.

Angelus did not respond knowing she could read his thoughts just by the way he stared at her with longing.

"If we mated, it's forever. Permanent." Elizabeth said.

"I know."

"We can never part. This bond is far more powerful than anything we've ever experienced before. You do realise this, yes?"

A grin brightened his handsome face, "Aye, I do. Are ye sayin' yes then?"

"I never thought of mating myself to another." Her words were not what Angelus expected to hear. His face slowly sank, mentally beating himself for feeling any sort of hope again. Elizabeth must have read his thoughts because she turned onto side looking at him fully. "I never thought of mating myself to another." She softly repeated needing him to understand her words. "Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wished to find a Prince. Someone I could wholeheartedly give myself to. Vlad wasn't him. He was what I needed at the time but he wasn't who I wanted for eternity." Elizabeth reached out and placed her hand on his cheek. "I was a fool to have left you the first time. You were right... about everything. I want you, Angelus. Only you. Forever."

Angelus rested his forehead against hers. "Eternity isn't nearly long enough," Angelus said cupping his hand around her cheek. With a small smile, Elizabeth captured his mouth into a passionate kiss.

She broke the kiss feeling something cool on his middle finger of his right hand. "What's that?" Elizabeth asked taking his hand examine the gold ring with two hands holding a crowned heart. "It's beautiful." Her fingers gently traced over the hands to the crown overhead the heart.

Angelus rolled onto his back slipping the ring off of his finger holding it up to look at. "My people... Before I was changed, they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's called a Claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty. The heart, well, ye know..." he turned his eyes to her her.

Elizabeth watched as he slid the ring back onto his finger with the heart pointing toward him. "Why do you point the heart towards you?"

"It means ye belong to somebody. Ye belong to me now, Buffy. I'm never letting ye go again."

Her hand cupped his cheek and combed through his long hair. "I never want you to."

"We should celebrate," Angelus said with an excited smile.

"And what do we owe this celebration too?"

Angelus frowned, "Our engagement silly. Come! Come!" The Master Vampire jumped out of the bed uncaring about his nudity. He outstretched his hand for her to take.

Elizabeth girlishly laughed and took his hand letting him pull out of the comfort of the bed. She fell in his arms pressing her blood stained body against his.

"I will always shower ye with gifts, my Buffy." Angelus gestured his hand out to the bound and gagged husband and wife that lived in the home.

Angelus watched as Elizabeth turned her head to the victims. "It's wonderful." She tilted her head to the side examining the torture devices impaling their bodies and the agony shown on their exhausted faces.

"A work of art." Angelus' hands slowly slid around Elizabeth's naked waist. "You are a true artist. Absolutely masterful." Angelus felt inspired.

Elizabeth turned her head looking up at his face. "You're not too bad yourself," her hand reached back and caressed his cheek, "my Angel."

Angelus closed his eyes to her whispering voice and pressed his mouth tenderly against hers. Elizabeth broke the gentle kiss and rested her forehead against his. The couple slowly turned their heads still pressed against each other they look down at the tortured couple with a dark smile on their handsome faces.

The middle-aged women looked up at them seeing their faces through the blood stinging her eyes. She knew she was not going to survive the night. She and her husband had been bound to the wall for hours. In between their agonising torment, the couple were forced to watch the vampires passionately taint the marriage bed with their evil for hours.

She watched the couple's beautiful faces morph into some sort of demon she had never seen. She knew that somehow the Lord was punishing her for past sins. She just knew.

"My lady first," Angelus mockingly bowed his head to Elizabeth. He took her blood stained hand and kissed her knuckles.

Elizabeth smiled flashing her fangs that turned Angelus on. "Thank you." Elizabeth spun around and grabbed the woman by her shoulders and violently buried her fangs deep into her neck.

 _ **Works: "Fleurs du mal"(Flowers of Evil)"** **Charles Baudelaire, 1857**_


	5. Chapter 4

**(3 Years Later)**

 **London, England 1860**

 **Cathedral**

A pale and frightened young woman called, Drusilla rushed into the church. She kneeled at the entry and crossed the pews to the confessional booth. She sat down behind the curtain and removed the veil from covering her delicately beautiful face.

"Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It has been two days since my last confession."

On the other side of the confessional, Angelus picked up his head on full alert. Elizabeth released her mouth from around Angelus' throbbing cock, also listening to the young frightened girl. Elizabeth moved from her knees to sit across Angelus' lap. She kicked the dead Priest further away from their feet.

"Father?"

Angelus clenched his jaw as Elizabeth's hand grasped around him. "Ugh... two days?" Angelus said keeping his voice even, skillfully never giving any indication of his mate's perfect hand stroking his hardened member. "That's not very long. You must sin a great deal to be back so soon."

"Oh, father... I'm so afraid." Drusilla's voice quivered.

Angelus turned her eyes from Elizabeth's face to the screen. He found himself amused and strangely moved by the dark haired girl. "Hush, child." Angelus played the role of the priest effortlessly. "The Lord is very forgiving." His hips bucked into her hand desperately wanting Elizabeth to quicken her stroking hand's pace.

Elizabeth's mouth went to his ear, "Is he now?" she felt his smile and bit his earlobe softly.

"Tell me ye'er sins." Angelus requested suppressing his smile.

"I had... I've been seeing again, father." Elizabeth and Angelus looked at one another confused about what that meant. They turned their heads back to Drusilla. "I didn't try to, I swear! But yesterday the men were going to work in the mine and I had a terrible fright, my stomach all tied up and I saw a horrible crash, men screaming in the dark... my mum said to keep my peace, it didn't mean anything but this morning they had a cave in. Two men died." Drusilla wiped the fallen tears from her face.

Elizabeth turned her head to the intriguing woman wanting her to continue her story.

"Go on." Angelus encouraged.

Drusilla continued, "My mum said I'm cursed. My seeing things is an affront to the Lord. That only _He's_ supposed to see anything before it happens. But I don't mean to, father, I swear. I try not be pure in His sight and I do my penance, I don't want to be an evil thing."

"Hush, child. The Lord has a plan for all creatures. Even a devil child like you."

Elizabeth buried her face into her mate's shoulder muffling her laughter.

"A devil..." Drusilla said slowly mortified.

"Yes, ye're a spawn of Satan, all the hail Mary's in the world aren't going to help. The Lord will use ye and then smite ye down, he's like that." Angelus listened to the joyous sounds of her soft tears.

Drusilla wiped the wetness from under her eyes. "What can I do?"

"Fulfil his plan for ye, child. Be Evil. Preform evil works. Attack the less fortunate. Ye can start small: laugh at a cripple. Open ye're legs for a man." Angelus' hands slid down Elizabeth's body as he felt his approaching climax. "Ye'll feel better. Just give in." He softly groaned as he came into Elizabeth's hand.

Drusilla shook her head sobbing, "No... I want to be good... I want to be pure..."

"We all do, at first." As Angelus spoke he caressed Elizabeth's cheek with the back of his fingers. "The World doesn't work that way."

"Father, I beg you... help me."

Angelus bore his eyes into Elizabeth's. She nodded her head knowing what he was going to do next. "Very well. Uh, ten acts of contrition. Does that sound good?"

With relief, Drusilla bowed her head to the priest. "Yes, Father, thank you."

"The pleasure was mine." Through the small barrier window between them, Angelus could see Drusilla stand from the seat starting to leave. "Oh, and my child?"

"Yes?"

"God is watching ye." Angelus's fingers touched the screen and grinned when Drusilla left the booth. The vampire looked at his beautiful mate of three years. "She can be our masterpiece."

"She has power, I can feel it. It's unspoilt. Unexplored." Elizabeth closed her eyes and grinned. "It's beautiful. Oh, Angel, she could be everything we've ever wanted."

"And more." He took her left hand pressing his lips against the gold Claddagh ring that sat there.

 **East London, England**

 **Streets**

"A surprise for you, my Angel."

Strolling out into the night from a luxurious dinner at a high-end restaurant with her family, Drusilla felt a presence behind her that was dark and evil. Drusilla turned and between the crowds walking down the busy little street, she recognised the yellow-haired woman not from life but from her prophetic dreams.

Her face was engrained into her mind. Drusilla had never seen such a beautiful woman of pure evil.

A brown haired man who stood tall and confident at the yellow-haired woman's side. His features were dark and strikingly handsome. Together, the couple standing at the end of the street conveyed power, darkness rooted from Hell, and god-like beauty that was hypnotising.

"She's perfect, my love," Angelus said with approval wrapping Elizabeth's arm around his and gestured to a market in order to disappear into the crowds carefully calculating the right time to make themselves known to the sweet young brunette.

Elizabeth took her hand and brought it up to his lips. "She is the young Saint from the cathedral."

"I recognise her."

Elizabeth looked up at him and marvelled the hunger in his eyes. "I have discovered, she has the sight."

Angelus blinked with a frown. "The sight?"

"Visions, my love. She sees into the future. But it's her innocence that excites me."

"'Cause she can see what is to come, knowing what we will do to her and yet she will do nothing'to stop it." Angelus pieced together memorised. "It's perfect." He watched

Drusilla turned her head away from the vampires general direction feeling their eyes though she could not seem them any longer. She turned away following her family down the cobble stoned streets.

 **Months Later**

 **Convent**

Elizabeth rounded the corner into the small room in the backseat part of the convent. She stood in the doorway to see Angelus sitting on the edge of a table staring at something across the small room. His linen shirt was untucked and waistcoat unbuttoned. His long hair spilt messily around his face.

Without turning around he knew who stood behind him. He felt her coming to a long while before. The mated bond heightened the senses for one another.

"Hello, my love," Angelus said without turning.

Elizabeth smiled and crossed the room circling her arms around his shoulders and kissed the back of his neck.

"How was ye're supper?" He asked still staring at the childish figure in front of him.

Elizabeth rested her chin on his shoulder. "Delicious. I do admit, it is a bit of a bore when you do not come. But I see you were preoccupied. How is our black beauty?"

"Splendid. I have big plans for this special one." Angelus tore his eyes away from Drusilla huddled in the corner of the small room sobbing into her knees. "I do enjoy convents. They're just a great big cookie jar of pure little virgins." Elizabeth smiled as she pressed her mouth against his. "She is to take her vows tonight at the Monastery." Angelus buried his face into the side of her neck kissing her skin.

"Black sky. It wants a little wormy me." Drusilla cried with a fright trying to blend herself into the wall scratching her broken and bloody fingernails. "No. No. Make it stop!"

Elizabeth removed herself from around Angelus and went over to madwoman. She crouched out and sat on her knees. She reached out a tender hand and idly brushed it through Drusilla's dark hair.

Drusilla stopped sobbing and slowly turned her head to Elizabeth. "Hush, my poor sweet child," Elizabeth whispered, running her thumb over Drusilla's cheekbone.

"Mother Angel?" Her eyes brightened seeing a heavenly creature showing her such kindness. "P—please help me, Mother Angel."

Elizabeth smiled letting her fingers slide down Drusilla's sharp jaw to her lips. "The Lord will not help you, my child. He does not help mad whores. You are alone in the darkness with the Devil." Elizabeth's face darkened with pure evil that terrified the crazed woman. "You're such an Evil."

"I don't want to be Evil, Mother Angel." Drusilla's tears slipped down her cheeks and snatched her head away from Elizabeth's grasp and banged her forehead against the wall.

Angelus grinned sliding down from the edge of the table to the wooden floors and crawled over to his mate wrapping a hand around her flat stomach. He pulled her away from the madwoman. Elizabeth fell into his arms resting her back against his chest. He tilted her chin upwards to his face and dipped his head down capturing her mouth. Elizabeth's hand cupped the back of his neck deepening the kiss.

"Eyes like arrows—like, like needles." Drusilla cried out banging her forehead against the wall. "Snake in the woodshed. Snake in the woodshed. Snake in the woodshed! Snake in the woodshed!"

Angelus shifted holding Elizabeth by her hips. He lifted the long gown up her thighs until her backside was exposed to him. He reached into his breeches pulling out his standing member and slid inside her.

Meeting his thrusts, Elizabeth sat up holding her hand around the back of his head, kissing his mouth. Angelus growled into her ear taken over by the warmth her body gave him.

"Make her one of us," Elizabeth whispered moaning into their kiss.

Angelus pulled back his head eying her strangely, "Killing her is a merciful end. No more pain." A slow smile crossed his mouth imagining the years to come. "Aye, immortal torment lasts forever." He whispered into her ear a with a grin and continued to pound himself into her backside.

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck. Angelus' handsome features morphed into his true demonic face. With a grin, he opened his fanged mouth and embedded his teeth into the two scared punctured holes over her skin. He moaned tasting her intoxicating blood.

Unable to control the animal inside of him, Angelus thrusts became unattainable. Desperately needing the sweet release. He greedily sucked her blood greedily.

Elizabeth opened her eyes, focusing on Drusilla's laughing face. She watched the young blacked haired beauty fry into her hands and gasp just as Angelus came.


	6. Chapter 5

**(23 Years Later)**

 **London, England 1880**

 **Street**

Elizabeth stood in the shadows near the opening of the alley watching her young vampire Childe devour a neck. She smiled when Angelus' arms moved around her midsection holding her tightly against him.

"She is so beautiful." Elizabeth laid her head back against him.

"Aye, she is," Angelus said though his eyes never lifted from Elizabeth's face. "A natural born killer as I always envisioned." Slowly, Angelus' attention turned to the dark haired vampiress.

Drusilla dropped the dead sailor to the ground and stood to face her Sire's. "I can hop in him like I did the ocean." Her eyes were wide as a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Elizabeth raised an assumed high brow, "He's dead, dove."

The dark vampire's childlike gleam dimmed with sadness, "I'm full and warm—yet all alone."

"That's not true, precious." Angelus frowned and reached out cupping her cheek. "Ye've got us."

"Mother Angel and Daddy..." Drusilla began but faltered, "Not in the least. You won't even have me just a little bit." She childishly pouted.

"Oh, my child," Elizabeth stepped forward pushing Drusilla's long black hair behind her ear. "You know the rules, my darling."

Drusilla shook her head, "Oh... Daddy wouldn't ever... His head is too full of you, Mummy."

"She is my mate after all." Angelus kissed Elizabeth's cheek. "If ye're lonely Dru, why don't ye get yeself a playmate?" Angelus suggested purring into Elizabeth's ear as she ran a hand down Angelus' chest toying with the buttons of his waistcoat.

"A splendid idea, my love." Elizabeth clapped her hands together with excitement.

Drusilla slowly nodded her head enjoying the idea. "I could. I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land and make him mine forever with a kiss."

"That's the idea." Angelus ran his fingers through Elizabeth's blonde hair in awe of her beauty.

Drusilla turned to the crowded streets on the prowl. Her eyes locked in on a man across the street. She licked her lips and began to walk over when Elizabeth caught her arm. "No, no, no, no, my child," Elizabeth pulled Drusilla away from the drunkard. "My pet, you can do far better than an old drunkard. Stop and look." She whispered gently into Drusilla's ear.

Drusilla turned away from the intoxicated homeless man and faced the streets letting her eyes carefully decide on all of the men walking past her.

A crying man with shaggy light brown hair stumbled out of a building bumping into a couple passing them by. William dropped the notebook under his arm onto the damp ground. He bent over, picking up the notebook trying to desperately ignore the stinging sensation of tears in his eyes. "You, watch where you're going!" William shouted at the couple and continued down the street.

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side seeing Drusilla lock with the crying man.

Drusilla tore her eyes from William looking back at Elizabeth. Satisfied with her Childe's choice, Elizabeth softly smiled with approval. "That's my little girl." She watched Drusilla start after William, following him into the alleyway.

"Him? Really?" Angelus stepped up beside his mate wearing a deep scowl.

"Yes, him." Elizabeth nodded her head with approval.

"But he's cryin' like a child." Angelus frowned.

Elizabeth shook her head and smiled up at her lover, "You see a weak little boy, whereas I see a man with pent up anger just waiting to devour it."

"Ye're perfect, my Buffy."

"Now, come this way." Elizabeth took his hand leading him into the darkness. "We wouldn't want to miss the show."

"Aye, that would be just sinful." Angelus grinned.

 **The Royal London Hotel**

Drusilla walked arm and arm with her newly risen lover. She grinned girlishly as William kissed the side of her neck walking up the grand staircase.

"The singing in my head tells me it would be filled with sunshine and daffodils."

William eyed his lover curiously but paid no attention. "I suspect it will be interesting." He took her hand as they neared the room his Master's were staying at down the long corridor.

* * *

William wrapped his arms around his new dark princess and entered the hotel room devouring her mouth.

"Oh, such a hungry little kitty." Drusilla cooed. "Meow." She pushed him back and ran her hand down his face. "You've been a starved one, haven't you my sweet Willy?"

"I've got you to feast on now, pet. Is this your home?" William looked around the luxurious gothic style hotel room.

"Their home." Drusilla's eyes went to a middle-aged couple slumped on the blood-stained sofa. "Ambassador to... something and his plump, lovely wife. Til their spirits few away on fairy wings. Psst. When Angelus took them for supper."

William crossed the room impressed by the elegant display of the corpses. "Angelus? Who the bloody hell is Angelus?" The fledging frowned instantly jealous.

Angelus stood in the shadows of the dim lit room eyeing the young vampire curiously.

"Look at what I made." Drusilla stepped up to the black shadows presenting William to her Sire. "It's called Willy." Her hand ran over William's shoulder.

"William." William corrected.

Drusilla nuzzled her nose into his cheek and looked at Angelus who had yet to appear from the shadows. "Where is Mother Angel? I so want her to see my William."

Angelus stepped out from the shadows in his best elegant evening attire. There was not a hair out of place on his head. The cutaway coat laid perfectly over his board shoulders only emphasising his intimidating size. He stood tall exuding demonic power. "She's playin' with a child in the bedroom." His eyes went to the closed door. "She'll be out in a moment."

Drusilla squealed with excitement. "Ooh! Mummy enjoys playing." She told William.

"Playing?" Willow frowned with confusion.

Angelus stepped forward looking over William with scrutinising eyes. "So, instead of just feeding off of this... William, ye went and turned 'im into one of us. Another rooster in the henhouse." He chuckled.

"You're cross with me aren't you?" Drusilla frowned swearing to herself, Elizabeth had to give her approval.

"Cross?" Angelus frowned.

"Mummy gave me her approval."

"Aye, that she did." Angelus grabbed William by his shoulders taking his wrist and held it out into the sun rays that streamed through a cracked open drapes. "Do you have any idea what it's like havin' nothin' but women as travel companions, night in and night out?" Angelus asked. "Especially, when one of them is insane? Take one guess who is always stuck carryin' the luggage?"

William angrily yanked his burning hand away from Angelus and shoved him back. "Touch me again!"

"Or what?" Angelus tilted his head to the side curiously. "Don't mistake me. I do love the ladies. My mate is the perfect woman—"

"—Mate?" William frowned.

Angelus held out his hand into the sunlight and watched it sizzle. "Aye. A mate is a forever bond between two demons. She bears my mark as I do hers. No one in the Underworld is allowed to touch her or really either of us for that matter. Consider it a human marriage without separation. But our bond excels to higher dimensions than any other ordinary bond, for example, a Sire and Childe. We are bound to one another for eternity." Angelus' words rolled off of his tongue. He turns his hand faced up watching the sunlight beam into his palm.

William frowned and stuck out his own hand into the sunlight like Angelus had done, glaring at the Master vampire.

The back bedroom door opened then closed with a soft click. Elizabeth looked up wiping her fingers clean with a handkerchief and tossed a glance to Drusilla then to the men challenging one another with their hands stuck out into the sunlight.

"Angel?" Elizabeth looked at Angelus as she pulled up the long sleeve of the glove up her arm.

Angelus grinned completely turning his attention. He drew his hand back and turned to Elizabeth dropping his hard facade and held out his now healed hand. "My love, we have a new guest." His fingers wrapped around hers.

William stared at Elizabeth with unblinking eyes never have seen a woman so beautiful in all of his life. Her features were breathtaking. A million words flowed through his mind. If he had a fountain pen and paper he could haven written hundreds of sonnets just about the sparkle of her green eyes in the darkness.

William barely felt Drusilla's hand wrap around his arm, reeling him back to reality.

"I see. Welcome, William." Elizabeth politely smiled at the fledgeling vampire.

"This is Mother Angel," Drusilla whispered staring Elizabeth with awe.

"Is that what I have to call you? Mother Angel?" William frowned.

Elizabeth shook her head with amusement, "No, that is only for my Drusilla. My name is Elizabeth."

"Read up, boy. Ye're now a part of the most respected vampire clan in the world." Angelus instructed. "Heritage is important. Never forget that." Angelus slapped his hand on William's shoulder. "Au ah! I like this one!" He grinned. "You and me, we're gonna be the best of friends." Angelus wrapped his arm around William's shoulders laughing.

"Angel," Angelus moved way from William and faced Elizabeth, "the doors will close if we dawdle any longer," Elizabeth picking up the black silk lace shawl from the back of a couch where the dead couple laid.

"Of course." Angelus turned took the shawl from Elizabeth's hands and draped it around her shoulders kissing the side of her neck.

"My William has a most wonderful tale to tell you," Drusilla said wrapping her arms around her lover's arm.

Angelus nodded his head and placed a top hat on his head. "He can tell us on the way."

William watched the magnificent vampires move to the door past the corpses on the sofa. "Where are we going? I thought we are going to kill the most innocent souls."

Angelus turned the doorknob opening it for the women. "There is plenty of time for that, but for now, I promised my woman a night at the Opera."

"The Opera?" William frowned and followed the group out of the stateroom.

 **London, England**

 **Stagecoach**

"I do love that story!" William said sitting across of Angelus laughing at tales of death and torture. "I loved the part when you described what you did. You know the part! When you leapt up right in the middle of the ceremony, grabbed the priest's head and squeezed it until it popped like—"

"—Rotten melon." Angelus grinned and turned his head to Elizabeth.

"Yes! Eyeballs dangling from the sockets and you shouting, 'Frankly, father, thine eyes offend me.' Bloody priceless. And beating the groom to death with his own arm, I mean, honestly, you're a bloody killing marvel."

Elizabeth turned her eyes from the small window of the stagecoach to look at Angelus. She had heard this particular story told a hundred times. She was also a witness to the artistic murder. It came so surprise to her how fondly William took to the story. It was a good one, she would admit.

William watched the couple with keen interest. They appeared to be lost in a silent conversation that no one else could ever understand.

"So you're really Pulchra Creatura?" William's voice broke the conversation between the mates. "The demon in all of those stories? Are they all true? I thought they were all myths."

Elizabeth softly smiled not at all offended by William's questions. "Myths are derived from truth are they not?"

"And so much more." Angelus nipped her ear between his teeth.

"Where is your Sire, Angelus?" William asked.

Angelus turned his head from Elizabeth and shrugged, "The last I heard she rejoined the Order of Aurelius bein' the Master's bitch."

"The Master?"

Angelus grinned, "Aye, ye have much to learn, young William. Darla wants nothin' to do with me since I've mated. The poor shrew cannot take a hint I'm afraid."

"What are you known for, Elizabeth?" William asked with great interest to hear if this vampiress was half of the killer Angelus apparently was.

Drusilla grinned, "Oooh, Mummy, is a magical painter. Tell him about the paintings."

"You're a painter?" William asked.

Elizabeth bashfully smiled, "Some might say."

"Aye, my woman is a revolutionist." Angelus announced proudly grasping her hand. "A bloody brilliant murderess."

Elizabeth turned her eyes from William's to Drusilla and gave her an odious smirk.

"You've been to revolutions?" William asked.

Elizabeth's mind flashed to one of many revolutions she had contributed and she can clearly see herself standing on top of a bloody pile of corpses and she was soaked in blood. Her beautiful face wore a wild, animalistic grin and she held a decapitated head by its hair. "I have been to a few in my day," Elizabeth smirked never one to give away too much of herself.

"My Buffy is an artist torturer. I have never seen a demon of her station take such time to expertly craft the greatest torture configurations my eyes had ever beheld." Angelus brought her hand to his lips. "My Black Queen."

William smiled and took Drusilla's hand into his own silently vowing to be like them one day.

Angelus caught the tender gesture and smirked, "She's special, isn't she? Our Drusilla."

"More than that. She brought me into this world. Where I was meant to be. It's like... she's my destiny."

Angelus looked at the dark haired vampire. "Aye, she is a sweet plum. I mean, a bit dotty and brain-addled, but—"

"She's not!" William shouted at Angelus. "She's just... It's like she's still got a bit of a child in her." He looked at her and smiled softly caressing her cheek.

"That's beautiful." Elizabeth said watching the couple. "You found yourself a poet, dove."

Angelus peeked out of the coach window seeing the elegant theatre. He knocked his hand onto the carriage wall. "Driver! Stop the coach!" Angelus ordered.

A moment later, the carriage's door opened and the driver held out his hand for Elizabeth to take. "My Queen." The driver bowed his head helping Elizabeth step out.

Angelus followed behind her and placed his top hat onto his head and took his mate's hand wrapping it around his arm. "This way." He led them up the marble steps to the beautiful Imperial Theatre. Angelus held out his tickets and led Elizabeth up the staircase to the box seats with William and Drusilla following them behind.

Elizabeth sat down and placed the playbill on her lap peering over the balcony to see the audience goers pour into the theatre. She spotted a familiar pale face across the way in another box seat staring right back at her.

"Who do ye see?" Angelus whispered into her ear following her eyes across the theatre.

"I wonder what he is doing in London." Elizabeth's eyes narrowed on the vampires handsome face on the opposite side of the theatre.

"We'll just ask, won't we."

William frowned and peered over between Angelus and Elizabeth's shoulders to see the tall, dark, and handsome man they were whispering about.

* * *

Angelus took Elizabeth's hand and placed it around his arm as they started for the doors planning on getting a quick bite before sunrise.

"Pulchra Creatura."

The vampire family paused hearing a familiar Eastern European velvet voice call out.

Elizabeth took a deep unneeded breath and turned, "Vlad."

"It's been a while, my porumbel _(dove)_." Dracula stood behind them wearing a soft smile. His eyes were only focused on Elizabeth and not the others around her, especially not on Angelus. "I heard you were back in London."

"Yes, I am." Elizabeth kept her responses short and crisp.

"Are you enjoying your visit?"

"Yes, I am."

William squeezed Drusilla's hand when Angelus growled seething with jealousy. Even after all of this time, it still pained Angelus to think about Dracula. For so long the Dark Prince had so much of Elizabeth and that never sat well with Angelus.

"Oh, calm yourself, Angelus." Dracula kept his eyes firmly on Elizabeth's beautiful face. "May I have an audience with you, my dear?"

Elizabeth looked at Angelus, who only saw red. She looked back at Dracula and nodded stepping aside, away from other prying ears.

Finally alone with his ex-lover, Dracula kept a stoic posture. His hands were behind his back and his chest puffed out. "I've missed you, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth stared at him and decided to cut straight to the point and cut him off, "I'm with someone now. I've mated."

"To who? To him?" Dracula clucked his tongue, "You are an intelligent woman, Elizabeth. How could you stoop so low to that... scoundrel? He's nothing but wasted space."

"It's too late, Vlad. What is done, is done. There is no going back."

"Always the free spirit..." Dracula took her hands into his own and brought them up to his lips, kissing her knuckles. "It's never too late. There is no time on our love, my Elizabeth."

"I was never yours." She said reaching his eyes. "I am so grateful for the life you've given me but I do not belong to you. Vlad. Not anymore. The only thing I feel for you is the energy of Childe to her Sire and that is all. You mean nothing else to me, Vlad."

"You are fighting me. Do not resist."

"I am not resisting anything. I do not want you." Elizabeth moved to step around from the vampire when he caught her wrist.

"Elizabeth," Dracula began.

"No." Elizabeth snatched herself free from his grasp. "I don't want you, Vlad! Angel is my mate. He is a part of me now. He is my moon and stars. Understand that, please." Elizabeth quickly turned away and went to Angelus, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Angelus glanced back to the Romanian vampire tightening his arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. "Do ye want me to rip him to pieces?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "No, I want you to take me home and make me forget."

Angelus nuzzled her ear and growled giving Dracula a smug smile. "Aye, I'll do whatever ye need, my love."

 **(20 Years Later)**

 **Northern China 1900**

 **Boxer Rebellion**

China's Vampire Slayer stared at the vampire demon in front of her and extended her leg into a powerful kick. Elizabeth caught her foot and spun her around watching the Slayer fall with a thud. Elizabeth stepped around the Slayer calmly waiting for her to stand unintimidated.

The Slayer jumped up to her feet and grabbed a sword off of the wall. She threw a series of powerful attacks. Elizabeth grinned flashing her fangs when the fight was now becoming a challenge for her. She glanced to the window hearing the Chinese gang's scream and shot their guns as they attacked outside.

Elizabeth stood straight waiting for the Slayer to attack the offence again. The Slayer swiped her sword scratching Elizabeth's cheek. Elizabeth snarled and lifted her fingers tasting her own blood growing hungrier by the second. The Slayer lunged at the Master Vampire taking her down to the ground knocking over tall candles that began to burn the temple. Elizabeth rolled over pinning the Slayer down and jabbed her fist into her face.

The Slayer kicked the vampire off and into the wall. Elizabeth landed onto her feet seemingly unfazed by the fight. She gracefully walked toward the Slayer as if she were walking on air and wrapped her hand around the Slayer's neck. The Slayer raised the stake in her hand and aimed at Elizabeth's heart.

Elizabeth caught her wrist and snapped it as her eyes bore into the Slayer. "Now, now, child, it's time to go to sleep."

The Slayer looked at the vampire knowing this was it. She was going to die. "告訴我的母親...我很抱歉... _(Tell my mother I'm sorry...)_ "

Elizabeth released an unneeded breath and looked at the Slayer. _She is so young, not yet sixteen with a whole life ahead of her. Such a shame..._

"Never mind that, dear." Elizabeth violently bit into the Slayer's neck sucking her blood, listening to her dwindling heartbeat that became slower and slower until she was completely dead. Elizabeth dropped the Slayer to the ground and wiped her bloody mouth when she felt a presence of another vampire standing in the doorway.

"Mother Angel?"

Elizabeth turned to Drusilla and smiled still in her demonic features. "My child."

"You've killed yourself another Slayer." Drusilla stared at Elizabeth with wide eyes.

"They say, Slayer's blood is powerful. Do you want a taste, dove?"

Drusilla moved to the blonde vampire nodding her head. Elizabeth raised her finger and brought it to Drusilla's mouth and slid it between her lips. Drusilla's eyes widen smiling. Her hands covered over Elizabeth's unable to stand the strength of the blood any longer. "The sound of a thousand little cherubs, crying their eyes out over all the spilt milk." Her brown eyes gleamed.

A slowly haunting smile slid across Elizabeth's mouth.

* * *

Through the flaming, chaotic streets of China, people ran wild rioting and fighting. Angelus and William walked around the crowds engrossed into their own conversations waiting for their women to return.

"The screams make my body sore," William said enjoying his first true revolt which grew angrier and bloodier each day that passed.

"Ah, still the poet now, aren't we, Willy?" Angelus chuckled.

"William." William corrected with frown.

"Right." Angelus stopped facing the younger vampire clamping his hand onto his shoulder. "William, ye know, ye really should find a new name for yeself. _William_ doesn't exactly strike the fear of terror. If ye know what I mean..."

William thought for a moment, "Like what?"

"Weren't ye called, William the Bloody at one time or another?" Angelus racked his mind for another example. "Oh, ye like to use rail spikes in yer torturing. Not as creative as I hoped but nonetheless..."

"Spike... Spike..." William said the name to himself trying it out on his tongue.

"Aye, there's a good lad." Angelus turned away from his Childe in search for his women. "Where the hell are the ladies?" he lifted his head to see overhead the rioters.

* * *

Standing outside a burning building watching the bloody chaos around them, Angelus turned his head sensing his mate and Drusilla approaching from between the panicking crowd with arms linked together.

"Where have ye two been?" Angelus' eyes slid from Drusilla to Elizabeth's. He knew she had done something extra naughty as he recognised the glisten in her bright green eyes. "What did ye do?" He extended his hand for her to take.

"Oh, may I tell Daddy?" Drusilla looked at Elizabeth clapping her hands overjoyed.

Elizabeth grinned taking her mates hand, "He'll know sooner or later."

"He'll know what?" Angelus grinned with excitement.

"Mummy just killed herself another Slayer!" Drusilla smiled taking William's hand.

Angelus looked down at Elizabeth and picked her up in his hands spinning her around. "My girl ye are!" Elizabeth circled her arms around Angelus's shoulder's hugging him tightly. "Let's get out of here. I want to ravage you." He growled millimetres from her red lips. "I want to taste the Slayer on ye'r lips."

William and Drusilla watched with interest as the two mates disappeared into the crowds.

"Isn't it wonderful, my William?"

"It's Spike now." He informed his lover.

"Spike. The King of Cups expects a picnic but this is not his birthday."

Spike's brows pinched together. "Right."

"One girl in all of the world." Drusilla circled around Spike resting her chin on his shoulder. "The Chosen One." She whispered.

"Chosen One?"

Drusilla grinned, "Mother Angel is the Chosen One... to kill 'em all."

William brushed by Drusilla's long black hair when he asked, "To kill who, pet?"

"The Slayer's." The vampiress's grin widened.

* * *

Angelus slammed Elizabeth's body against the wall devouring her mouth tasting the powerful blood that lingered in her mouth. He locked her wrists together with one hand above her head. His tongue tasted the skin over her throat. With his blunt teeth and bit down over the scar on her neck.

Elizabeth moaned and grinned when he spun them around and they fell onto the floor beside a dying corpse with still a bit of life in his eyes stared up at the vampire passionately kissing beside him. He lowered his tear-filled eyes to see the much larger vampire pound himself into the beautiful blonde woman. Her knees slid up his sides giving him better access to her body.

The last thing the victim ever saw was the vampire's grinning bloody faces looking right at him as they moved against each other reaching a passionate climax.

* * *

"I want something new."

Angelus laid flat on his back spent from their hours of celebration sex. He tilted his head upwards to Elizabeth, who sat against the backboard of the bed. He watched as she ran her fingers through her tousled blonde hair. "What are ye talkin' about? Aren't ye happy? Aren't I fulfillin' all ye'r desires?" Angelus frowned with confusion.

Elizabeth frowned looking at him directly, "No,"

"No?"

"I don't mean, _no_ —It's just... Do you not kind of... get the feeling that we're... in a rut?"

"A rut?" Angelus tried to follow along but the new slang words his mate seamlessly was always able to pick up just left him utterly confused.

Elizabeth sat up on her elbows. "You never take me any place new."

Lost for words, Angelus found himself scratching the top of his head. He always knew what to say, especially to his mate. "What about that trip to Spain last year? There were bulls... I thought that was a nice change of pace."

"So this is our future? Is this how we're going to spend our nights in a hundred years from now or a thousand years from now? Chasing after needless wars and feeding off of their stupidity?"

"Then what do ye want? Tell me, Buffy. Ye name it and I will do everythin' in my power to give it to ye."

Elizabeth grinned and snuggled closer to her lover. Her hand weaved through his messy brown hair and kissed his cool lips.

"Tell me, Buffy. What do ye want?" Angelus grinned rolling onto his back taking Elizabeth with him.

Elizabeth straddled his waist pressing her mouth against his. "There is a population increase happening overseas. And you know what that means?"

"Tell me."

"Inflammation, devastation, greed..." she purred against his mouth.

"And where is this rising population goin' to be?" Angelus memorised her features in his mind finding her utterly breathtaking when she was excited for the prospect of death and carnage.

"America."

"America?" Angelus' excitement slightly fell. "Really? Ye want to go to America?" In honesty, America was the absolute last place Angelus ever wanted to go.

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Oh, more than that my love. I want to take it over."

"Why? Do ye not like Europe anymore? We can go back to France, I know how much ye like it there."

"There's an active Hellmouth in America. It's powerful. More powerful than anything we've ever seen before."

Angelus pushed her hair behind her ear. "Where is it?"

"California."

Angelus sighed heavily, "I don't know, America is so... American." He said with disgust.

"That's the point, darling. We take that yankee spirit and strangle them with it. It would be our masterpiece."

"I thought Drusilla was our masterpiece."

"Oh, she is but this Angel... Whether the world likes it or not, America will become very powerful and be a major influence force."

"How do you know all of this?" Angelus looked at her with wonder.

Elizabeth's fingers danced over his slanted mouth, "Think about it. They defeated the English and established themselves as an independent country. They're the home of a powerful Hellmouth. If we take America, my love, we can take the world."

Angelus thought over her words and ran his hands through her soft hair. He loved the passionate fire in her eyes it made him excited, in more ways than one. He knew when his mate of forty-three years had an idea in her mind it was not easily changed. They shared that in common. Angelus would do anything for this woman. His mind was made up before she even said what she wanted because of course, he would give it to her.

A slow grin slid across his mouth, "Okay. We'll go."

"We'll become Americans."

"Now hold on Buffy."

Elizabeth placed her finger over his mouth silencing him. "Trust me. We become one of them, they trust us then we destroy them. It's smart not to draw attention to ourselves. You know this."

"We didn't become famous for our subtlety, Buffy."

"We're going further than fame. Who cares about that? This is so much more. Every high-level demon will be heading toward this Hellmouth. Including the Master." Angelus growled at the ancient vampires name. "Once and for all, we can destroy that pointless order and there will be no stopping us. You can be King of the Underworld."

Angelus cupped her cheek, "And you my Queen."

"What do you say?"

"I say... My mate is the most... foolish, thick-headed, and impulsive woman I have ever met." Elizabeth's face fell with disappointment. Angelus was not finished, his thumb traced the bottom of her lip. "She's also passionate, wickedly brilliant, decidedly cruel, and I would go anywhere with her. My moon and stars."

Elizabeth rested her forehead against his feeling the power of their bond that could only be described as demonic love. "My sun." She said running her hand down his face.

 **New York, New York 1900**

 **Ellis Island**

Coming off of the large Cunard ocean liner, immigrants stepped onto the dock in search for a new life in the great land of America. Across the world, America was known as the land of opportunity.

Angelus reached back taking Elizabeth's hand as they moved around the long line of people disappearing in the darkness without ever being noticed.

Outside of the port a horse and carriage sat outside waiting. The carriage driver poked his head out wearing his demonic face.

"This way." Angelus directed taking Elizabeth's hand leading her to the carriage that out take them into the city.

The driver stepped out of the carriage helping Elizabeth into the back then turned away stepping back into the carriage.

Inside, Elizabeth laid her head on Angelus' shoulder. "I hope we made the right decision leaving Drusilla and William behind."

"We'll send for them when we're settled," Angelus said wrapping his hand around hers.

"Don't." Elizabeth tilted her head up to his face and trailed her fingers down his clean-shaven face. "I've missed having you to myself."

"Ridiculous. I'm forever ye'res."

Elizabeth softly smiled lifting her head to kiss his mouth tenderly. "My Angel, where would I be without you?"

"With Dracula I presume or another fortunate man. But luckily for me ye came to ye're senses and saw how pathetic that dolt actually is."

Elizabeth placed her finger over his lips shutting him up. "No more of that." She sensed his rising anger just thinking of Dracula. "I'm yours, forever and always."

Angelus lowered his eyes to her and dipped his head down capturing her mouth in an open mouthed kiss.


	7. Chapter 6

**(67 Years Later)**

 **San Francisco, California 1967**

 **710 Ashbury At Waller**

Sitting in a living room filled with a thick cloud of marijuana and cigarette smoke, a frizzy dark haired man picked at the strings of the Les Paul guitar in his hands. He hummed a new song forming in his mind.

 _"No, no! She can't take your mind and leave_

 _I know it's just another trick she's got her sleeve_

 _I can't believe that she really wants you to die_

 _After all, it's more tan enough to pay for your lie."_

He sang and stopped every now and then to jot down the words onto a piece of paper. He looked at the young man beside him slapping his drumsticks on the covers of books stacked in front of him.

The frizzy-haired man turned his head and looked at Angelus sitting beside him with a joint between his fingers. "You know what's weird, man?" The frizzy-haired man asked the two hundred and fourteen-year-old vampire.

"Tell me?" Angelus said with a perfectly practised American accent.

"No matter where we're going, brother, we will always be people experiencing things. Experiencing everything."

Angelus thoughtfully turned his head to the hippie and smirked, "Good point."

Two arms snaked around Angelus' neck from behind. Elizabeth nipped at his ear with her blunt teeth and kissed his temple. "Where have you been?" Angelus asked.

Angelus knew what she was doing. In the back of the house, men and women went to her so she could bite into them as they experienced mind-expanding drugs such as LSD. Their experiences were heightened with a vampire bite.

"I was doing... _things_..." Elizabeth ambiguously whispered into his ear.

Elizabeth and Angelus had been travelling around America for sixty-seven years. America was all that they hoped it would be. In their time since arriving, they basked in many devastating glories of four wars and a Great Depression.

During the Second World War in the Spring of 1945, Angelus had made the request to take a trip back to Germany purely out of curiosity. Both of the vampires found the violence and devastation felt by the humans quite refreshing but it was the ringleader in the fascist country that had captured their keen interest.

 **Berlin, Germany 1945**

 **The Führerbunker**

Adolf Hitler, the German Nazi Party leader had been known to have a particular fixation on the nefarious vampires; especially on Elizabeth. As a child, Hitler had read books upon books about the mates. It wasn't until his early teen years in Austria when he had first met the mysterious vampiress. He remembered that day with perfect clarity. She spared him his life because she foresaw a greatness deep within him which would not disappoint her.

Since that day, Hitler made it his mission to find the goddess vampire again and show her all that he has accomplished.

His heart nearly stopped with shock the day the notorious vampires stepped foot into the Berlin bunker. "Schöne Kreatur. (Beautiful Creature.)" He whispered in total shock.

What Hitler had not known was that behind the bolted steel door, all of his closest allies had been slaughtered by the vampires and he and his new wife, Eva were the only ones left.

Angelus had commended the dictator of his work calling it the 'Final Solution'. It brought a level of sophisticated carnage only a sadistic killer like Angelus could appreciate.

Elizabeth eyed the Walther PPK 7.65 in Hitler's hand. She raised her eyes back to his face and noted the silent plead in his brown eyes begging her to turn him into one of them. Nodding her head in agreement, Elizabeth told him that only one of them could be turned and they must decide. Conflicted by the choice Hitler found most difficult.

Hitler's brown eyes went to Elizabeth's face. "Mich, _(Me,)_ " he ignored Eva's gasp of surprise. "Ich wähle mich. _(I choose me.)_ " Hitler avoided Eva's gaze. "Ich will Ewigkeit an deiner Seite, meine Königin. (I want eternity at your side, my Queen.)"

"Und die Ewigkeit ist, was ich dir geben werde. (And eternity is what I shall give you.)" Elizabeth softly smiled a devilish grin.

Angelus stepped around Elizabeth and grabbed the blonde haired woman by her neck and sunk his fangs into the veins of her neck. Eva cried in agonising pain.

The old man sat straight falling into the depths of Elizabeth's eyes. Excitement rolled off of him in waves as he was now faced with eternal life. Her manicured painted fingernails gently ran down his cheek tracing over the skin of his neck. "Ich werde dich unsterblich machen, mein Führer. (I will make you immortal, my Führer.)"

He gasped with anticipation as her face leant closer to him. "Ich bin an Ihrer Gnade. (I am at your mercy.)" Hitler whispered closing his eyes feeling her cool needless breath against his face. He took a deep breath mesmerised by her floral scent.

She wrapped her fingers around his hand which still held the gun. Her lips softly kissed his skin drawing him further into her seduction. And in a flash, Elizabeth raised the Walther PPK 7.65 to Hitler's head firing it off. The bullet went straight into the Führer temple killing him instantly.

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side watching the blood from the dictator's brain squirt out from the small whole.

"You broke your word," Angelus said standing behind his mate wearing a dark smirk. "The poor sod believed you."

Visibly disgusted by the vile human, Elizabeth sneered and eyed the blood on her hands. "He was a fool."

The sounds of bombs outside the bunker rattled the walls. Unshaken by the Allies closing in, Elizabeth shifted her eyes to her mate and slowly smiled with a brilliant idea.

* * *

Approaching the bunker in the bombed area, the Soviet troops of the Red Army slowly walked around the rubble with caution.

"Ты думаешь, мы найдем этого ублюдка? (Do you think we're going to find the bastard?)" A soldier asked his comrade.

With a smirk, the solder's comrade shrugged and said, "Я надеюсь, что это так. Я хочу сам расстрелять этого ублюдка. (I hope so. I want to shoot the fucker myself.)"

Sharing a chuckle, the two soldiers paused as the line of troops did. They frowned recognising faces of the dead bodies scattered and mangled leading through the bombed area.

"Это Мартин Борман? (Is that Martin Bormann?)" One soldier asked trying to make out the corpses features.

As they neared the line, the two soldiers from the back heard someone shout, "Это Джозеф Геббельс! Это Джозеф Геббельс! (It's Joseph Goebbels! It's Joseph Goebbels!)"

"Что за хрень? (What the fuck?)" A comrade said and felt a liquid drip on his shoulder. He looked down and noticed the liquid was red. He touched his finger over the red liquid and frowned, "Кровь. (Blood.)" His eyes turned to the soldier beside him.

Slowly the soldier's eyes turned upwards to the source of the blood. A shockwave of terrified gasps riddled over the men as they stared up to the dangling electrical wires.

"Бог Всемогущий... (God almighty...)"

Torn off into pieces and wrapped in wires were bits and pieces of whatever was left of the Führer. His decapitated head was displayed on an iron spike that used to be a part of a building.

Walking along the crippled sidewalk, Elizabeth and Angelus took great amusement in the soldier's terrified expressions.

Elizabeth leant forward to a young man in uniform and said with a gracious smile, "Благодарю за службу, товарищ. (Thank you for your service, comrade.)"

The young man turned to the vampire with wide eyes. He gasped then looked back at the torn apart dictator.

 **San Francisco, California 1967**

 **710 Ashbury At Waller**

As the mates look back on the Second World War, it is with great fondness. They now found themselves living in a new world called, the Summer of love. The young people made the long street called, Haight—Ashbury its counterculture home base. The hippie's newfound outlook on life intrigued the vampires greatly. They very much enjoyed their company, so much so, they delayed their initial plans to occupy the Hellmouth.

The Master and his order had yet to come to the Hellmouth located in a small town four hundred miles south of San Francisco.

Angelus watched his lover move around the couch and slid across his lap, hooking her arms around his neck. He very much enjoyed the flower child fashions. He enjoyed that it revealed her beautiful body. Angelus marvelled over the golden tint of her skin as his hand ran down her tight body. It always fascinated him that as a vampire, she somehow kept a golden tan.

"Hey, Buf," The frizzy-haired man got the vampiress's attention. "Listen to this riff." He played the strings of his guitar.

Elizabeth smiled closing her eyes feeling the groove of the guitar. In her mind, she could easily picture the song with all of the instruments and screaming fans. "I love it. Absolutely wonderful." Elizabeth's wrists draped over Angelus' shoulders. She leant forward to whisper into his ear, "I've got news, my love."

"Yeah?" Angelus lifted his eyes to his face taking in the beautiful of her long wild hair tousled around her shoulders.

"Nest is on his way. At the end of the month, he is rumoured to settle down at the Hellmouth with his band of degenerates." She combed her fingers through his long hair. Her hand slid down his scruffy face to trace her fingers over his lips.

Angelus grinned against her fingertips unable to contain his desires for his mate of hundred and ten years. He stood taking Elizabeth with him in his arms laughing when he heard her squeal. Angelus growled into their kiss and moved to an empty room to ravage his woman.

The frizzy-haired man smiled turning away from the couple and looked at his friend blowing to into his harmonica. "Young love, man."

 **Sunnydale, California**

 **Hellmouth's Underground Church**

The Master turned to see the vampires of his desires enter the underground structure. He grinned pleased they had sought him out. He ran his eyes over them and frowned. They had been here for a while taking in the trends of this new California.

"Angelus! Elizabeth! Welcome!" The Master stepped down from the altar steps holding out his arms. "I see you've taken to this... counter lifestyle."

"Those children are a good meal pumping their bodies with absurdities, making their blood a... transcendent experience," Elizabeth smiled softly.

The Master frowned noticing their developed American accents. "I see you've adapted yourselves into this country."

"Home of the free and land of the stupid, I say," Angelus smirked.

"What are your plans for this place?" The Master asked with curiosity.

A low, dark smile slid across Angelus' mouth, "Destroy you and take over the world."

The Master looked them up and down. A sense of fear struck him knowing these two were powerful and crazy enough to take him out forever. These were the vampires the Underworld feared. In fact, they had never seen a couple like them before. They seemed to genuinely love each other which was an oddity in itself. Soulless, ruthless demons loving one another, absurd, but it was true. As mates, they reached for the stars in the destruction and torture of this very stupid world.

"I see." The Master said taking a half step backwards away from them.

"Angelus." Darla appeared from behind the ancient vampire. Her eyes ran over Angelus' scruffy appearance. "Where have you been? A sewer?"

Angelus smirked, "Darla, what's with the beret?" He eyed in her beatnik attire.

"I ate a poet once. He was very enlightened." Darla grinned until her eyes went to his mate. The beautiful blonde looked exactly the same. Darla loathed how Elizabeth's lace bell sleeve top, strings of beads decorating her neck, and her flare pants looked on her; Absolutely flawless. Her long, blonde beach waved hair fell over her shoulders it looked perfect on her. This sent Darla into a silent rage. "Elizabeth." Regardless of her hatred of the vampiress, she still held much power that excelled over her own. "Where is Dracula?"

"Last I heard in Rome with the Immortal."

Darla noticed Elizabeth and Angelus had dropped their accents in order to blend in with the Americans. They were planning something big, and she wanted to be a part of it regretfully.

"How do you suppose you will eliminate me?" The Master asked carefully without a shred of fear in his voice.

Angelus and Elizabeth looked at one another and shrugged. "Easily," Angelus said hurled a stake across the room.

The Master caught the stake and looked at it. "Nice shot but not enough to kill—Ugh!" The Master's yellow demonic eyes turned downwards to the stake impaling his chest. The Master looked up to see Elizabeth standing beside him removing her hand from the stake. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth stared at his demon face tilting her head to the side curiously, "You have fruit punch mouth."

The Master stumbled backwards hitting the ground bursting into a pile of dust.

"Right then." Angelus stepped forward as the vampires around them parted ways for him to reach Elizabeth. "If you want to attack us, please do so but I gotta tell you, we've got a show to get to tonight. So this can't last long." Angelus looked at one of the vampires standing next to him.

"Yes, please be quick, Big Brother and the Holding Company is playing at the Fillmore and I would like to be there on time." Elizabeth tapped on her wrist pretending it was a watch.

Angelus turned facing the vampires, "But if you want to join the real power in this town. Step on up."

"You killed the Master!" Darla growled and attacked Elizabeth from behind.

Elizabeth effortlessly flipped the older vampire over her shoulder. She glared down at the vampire and smirked, "No longer daddy's little girl, how are you going to revel in your desperation now?" She mocked. "You might have to venture out on your own, Darla."

Darla vamped out and attacked the blonde to the ground ripping her claws to her clothing. Angelus pulled Darla off of his mate by her shoulder and tossed her into the rocks. " _Enough!_ " Angelus roared. "If you can't get along with us, then get the hell out or I will stake you myself!" Angelus threatened with a growl glaring at his Sire.

"You wouldn't Angelus."

Angelus clamped his hand around Darla's neck pinning her against the rocks.

"You're hurting me." She whined then coyly grinned. "That's good."

"If you ever threaten my mate again, it will be the last thing you ever do." Angelus' voice was low, threatening and clear sending a withering shiver down Darla's spine.

"My boy is lost forever because of her. Because of a common whore?"

Angelus tightened his hand around her throat. "Watch your tongue or I will rip it out." He dropped the vampire to the ground and reached out taking Elizabeth's hand. "The Order of Aurelius is dead. Me and Buf here... We're the new King and Queen of the Underworld." The vampires smiled darkly watching the lackey's around them fall to their knees before they begin to live and prosper in the new royal leadership.

 _ **Song Used: "Cream Puff War", Grateful Dead (1967)**_


	8. Chapter 7

**(30 Years Later)**

 **Sunnydale, California 1997**

 **The Bronze**

A crowd flooded the dark lit nightclub. The band, Dingos Ate My Baby jammed on the stage, high schoolers and college students danced to the fast paced rhythm. Some students lingered in the back by the coffee bar and others up on the balcony above dancing to the band.

A redheaded girl, approximately sixteen a fashion victim of the nerd variety sat alone at the bar stirring the straw of her Coke lost in her own thoughts.

"Hi."

The redhead looked up to see who was talking to her and was surprised to see an attractive blonde haired young woman smiling at her. Her hair was neatly curled around her shoulders, she wore a tight black mini dress with a scoop neck and black leather high boots. By any means, she was very beautiful.

"Why? I mean Hi." The redhead mentally slapped herself for sounding so pathetic in front of the beautiful blonde. "Did you want me to move?"

Elizabeth smiled shaking her head taking amusement in the redhead's nervousness. "Why don't we start with, 'hi, I'm Buffy'. And then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favour. It doesn't involve moving, but it's letting me join you for a while."

"Really? You want to sit with me?"

Elizabeth smiled sweetly taking a seat on the stool beside the girl. "Now you tell me your name."

"Willow."

"Willow... pretty name."

Willow pushed her hair back behind her ear, "My mom was a tree hugger." Her eyes widened realising how lame she sounded.

Elizabeth smiled shaking her head, "So was mine. Sixties kids I guess. Are you here with someone?"

"No, I'm just here. I thought Xander was gonna show up." Willow looked over her shoulder at the crowded door.

"Xander? Is he your boyfriend?"

"No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up."

Elizabeth frowned, "How come?"

"He stole my barbie. We were five. No, me and Xander well... we've known each other since... I guess forever would sum it up pretty good. H-how about you? Are you here with anyone?"

Elizabeth shrugged, "Nope. Just me. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Willow's eyes went wide at the thought. "Uh, no, no. I don't actually date a whole lot. When I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool, or witty, or at all... I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."

Elizabeth laughed enjoying this girl. "It's not that bad. I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."

"It's probably easy for you." Willow held her chin in her hand staring at the blonde girl.

Elizabeth shrugged sipping her drink, "Oh, yeah. Real easy." She rolled her eyes.

"I mean, you don't seem too shy. And you're very pretty, I bet the boys really like that. Are you a student? I've never seen you before?"

"At U.C Sunnydale."

"Wow... and you're in college too." Willow shook her head dumbfounded at this person.

"Hey, Red!" Another voice behind the girls called out from the dance floor. The dark haired girl moved to them. She grabbed another girl along with her.

Elizabeth ran her eyes down the teenager, she wore a white mid-drift with the sleeve cut off. Her black leather pants hugged her legs. She looked like a biker from a trailer park. Elizabeth instantly found this piece trash vulgar but she skillfully did not let her disgust show on her face.

"Who are you?" The biker looking girl asked harshly running her eyes over the unfamiliar blonde with hard eyes.

"Oh, Faith, this is Buffy. She's in college."

Faith raised a high brow and looked over the blonde. A goody-two-shoe valley girl Faith assumed. "Where are you from?"

"Faith!" Willow looked at her friend.

"What it's a simple question."

Elizabeth paid no mind giving her an easy smile. "Los Angeles. I'm here on scholarship."

Faith frowned catching minimal red stains on Elizabeth's fingers, "Is that blood?"

Elizabeth stared at the girl, "I'm a painter." She replied without hesitation. "That's my major."

"Oh!" Willow smiled, "What style do you usually paint?" She asked with genuine interest.

The blonde was more than happy to oblige her with a response. "I like to dabble in all sorts of primitive styles, such as impressionism and abstract. Those are my favourite." Elizabeth's pager buzzed tearing her attention away from the girls. "Excuse me, I have to take this." She stood moving to the back of the club.

"Sure." Willow grinned watching Elizabeth leave.

"There's something off about her." Faith said with a frown.

"What do you mean? Are your spidey senses tingling?"

Faith looked down at her with an eye roll, "Yeah, something like that. I think we should follow her."

"Or we should talk to Giles. What if she's a vampire or something."

"Then I stake her."

"I don't know Faith."

Faith sighed heavily, "Fine. Whatever, we talk to Giles first then I slay."

"Uh, Faith?" Willow looked beyond the crowd to a suspicious character following Elizabeth outside the club. "Vampire." She whispered.

* * *

Outside in a deserted alley, Faith and Willow arrived at the scene to see Elizabeth throwing a powerful punch into the vampire's face. She grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed it into the brick wall.

Faith watched the blonde shocked to see her kick her foot into a wooden crate shattering it and catching a piece of wood staked into the vampire's heart.

"I think it's time to talk to Giles now," Willow said to Faith staring at the deceiving blonde with wide eyes.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

"Giles, I'm telling you there is something iffy about this chick, man." Faith whispered as she slouched into the wooden chair looking up at the older man cleaning his glasses.

"You say, you saw her stake the vampire?" A shaggy dark haired man named, Xander stood beside Willow.

"Yeah." Faith answered.

Giles frowned.

"Is she another Slayer?" Xander asked looking at Faith with concerned eyes. He admittedly has a major crush on the dark-haired Vampire Slayer.

Faith rolled her eyes, "Or she's not human."

"Buffy is not human?" Giles asked trying to piece the jotted story together. "And you are not just saying that because she you don't care for her?" Giles eyed his Slayer knowingly.

"Ugh..." Faith sighed heavily, "... whatever..."

Willow frowned, "I don't know, Giles, Buffy seemed really nice. I think we should give her a chance. You know, get to know her before we label her as a demon."

"I think you're right, Willow." Giles looked at the redhead who nodded.

"You know I can hear you guys, right?" Elizabeth voiced standing in the background by the doors leaning against the counter with boredom. "I'm literally ten feet away."

"Buffy!" Willow jumped up to her feet almost forgetting that she was still in the library with them.

Faith turned with an eye roll, "You're hard to forget."

A girl and a boy, Elizabeth did not recognise stared at her. The boy's eyes were wide and filled with desires that filled his virgin mind while the other girl, well dressed; an obvious Cosmo girl glared with judging eyes.

An older man wearing long brown trousers, a loose tie, with a white shirt and suspenders appeared from his office holding a book and his glasses in his hands. Elizabeth guessed that he was the Watcher. _He smells like a Watcher._ She masked the deepening frown over her face with a polite smile.

"You must be Buffy. I'm sorry for our tactlessness. We are just concerned. I'm Mr Giles or just Giles as most prefer. I'm the school's librarian."

"It's nice to meet you." Elizabeth gave them a small smile.

Giles smiled softly not finding anything outwardly alarming about the young woman. She seemed like a typical Californian Valley Girl.

"You're the Watcher?"

The smile across Giles' face fell with surprise. "Pardon me? You know of Watcher's?"

With a short nod, Elizabeth said, "Of course and you," she turned to eyes to Faith across the room, "you're the Vampire Slayer."

"How do you know of Slayers and Vampires?" Giles asked with a deepening frown.

"In a place like Sunnydale, how can you not?"

Giles backed down finding her point adequate enough.

"Can I have you?" Xander asked unconsciously gawking at her from afar.

Elizabeth smiled at the young high school student with amusement. She fought the urge to wag her brows and seduce him finding it too obviously easy.

Xander's eyes widened realising what he had just said, "Uh, I was uh... uh... I'm going to bury my head over there now." Xander sat down.

Cordelia rolled her eyes, "Very smooth Casanova."

"Then if you don't mind, how do you know about vampires? Faith and Willow said that you are a more than a qualified fighter... almost supernatural."

Elizabeth gracefully swayed her hips across the room, "Well, somebody has to."

"What does your family think of your career choice?" Faith asked running her eyes suspiciously over the petite blonde.

Elizabeth looked away with a sad expression, "They're dead."

Willow frowned feeling sympathy for her new friend. "Was it... vampires?"

"It was." She bit the inside of her cheeks. Though her face held sorrow in actuality she was trying desperately to suppress her grin.

"I'm sorry." Willow felt for the young girl and gave her a soft smile.

Elizabeth looked at her and returned the gesture with false gratitude, "It was a long time ago."

"So what? This is a vengeance gig for you?" Faith asked harshly.

"Something like that." Elizabeth turned to see the clock over Giles' head started her way to the door. The sun was beginning to rise and she wasn't ready to reveal herself to the children yet. She wanted to play. Angelus was going to enjoy this new spur of the moment game she's created.

 **Crawford Mansion**

Angelus had Elizabeth pinned up against the wall as soon as she stepped into wine cellar entry. He was happy she had decided to wear a dress tonight. He enjoyed this century, his mate's clothes were not so conservative anymore he got to see her beautiful body and kill anyone that took interest in her either. It was a simple pleasure really.

"Where... have you... been?" Angelus pounded himself into her, "... It's just about... sunrise..." His mouth went to her neck, sucking on her skin.

Elizabeth bit his earlobe and drew her head back looking at his face. "I made... new friends..." she grinned.

Angelus looked at her with surprise, "Who?"

"The Slayer." Elizabeth clenched herself around him. "Trashy... brunette... bitch named... Ugh! Named Faith. There was... another girl... redhead... Willow... Oh, Angel!" Her fingers clawed at his hair, tugging it.

Angelus pounded ruthlessly into her feeling his climax quickly approach. "You have a plan."

"We befriend Willow... and kill the Slayer."

"Why not just kill the... the Slayer now?"

Elizabeth kissed his mouth hungrily, "And where's the fun in that?"

"What's your plan?" He bit her chin with his blunt teeth moaning as he came deep inside her dead womb.

"I've always wanted a slayer as a pet. Perhaps this is the one."

Angelus laughed at her chosen words, "The Chosen One."

Elizabeth grinned biting his bottom lip feeling a rippling ecstasy wash over her body.


	9. Chapter 8

**Sunnydale, California**

 **Crawford Mansion**

 **Wine Cellar**

Elizabeth leant back against the cool stone wall staring across the room with a thoughtful expression. She held a scalpel between her fingers feeling the sharpness of the knife. Her head tilted to the side as she narrowed her eyes on the object in front of her.

"You're awfully quiet this evening, my love." Angelus stood in the doorway watching Elizabeth carefully, sensing her drifting mind.

"This isn't as fun as I hoped it would be." She frowned touching the point of the scalpel. "She's barely awake to feel it anymore." Elizabeth crossed the wine cellar to the rolling table of torture instruments. "And this is no longer sharp." Elizabeth slammed her hand down on the table with frustration.

Angelus frowned stepping behind her. His arms wrapped around her waist and his chin sat on her shoulder. "What's wrong, baby?"

"I don't know." She muttered with a pout laying her head back into the crook of his neck.

"Yes, you do. What is it? You can tell me anything, you know that." Angelus brushed his lips over the exposed skin of her shoulder. "Tell me. Did something happen between you and the Scoobies?"

Elizabeth shook her head then turned in his arms. Her wrists draped over his shoulders, "I miss _our_ family."

"It's been awhile. I know."

"I want them back, Angel. The more I hang around these worthless whiny humans, the more I want our family here. With us. They belong to us, Angel."

Angelus tucked a piece of her long blonde hair behind her ear and nuzzled her nose with his own. "What my woman wants... my woman gets." Angelus turned his head to the servant standing at the door. "You," A vampire lackey rushed over to Angelus and Elizabeth. "Find my children and get them here. _Immediately_."

The vampire ran out of the wine cellar.

Elizabeth smiled leaning closer to his mouth, "Thank you."

"Do you feel better now?" His hands slid down her back and around her backside.

Elizabeth kissed his lips with a nod. She then stepped out from his embrace facing her victim chained up onto the wall. "I do." She grabbed the dull scalpel from the table and dipped it into Holy Water. Elizabeth stared up at the blonde haired vampire beaten and tortured to a bloody pulp. "Much better." Elizabeth slowly sliced through the vampire's skin, slowly the acid crippled her.

Darla cried out in pain as her skin sizzled, ripping apart. Elizabeth grinned and sliced her skin again as she listened to Darla's agonising screams.

 **Sunnydale High Basement**

One of Elizabeth's men opened the secret door from the sewers that head straight to the high school. She had received Willow's page asking to meet her and the rest of the friends in the library after school assuming, Elizabeth had classes all day at the college.

Elizabeth smirked realising she was now in the 'in' with the Scoobies. Her people had done well with their research on the students that helped the Vampire Slayer and her Watcher.

"Thank you." Elizabeth stepped from the underground passageway.

At the basement door, Elizabeth stopped fixing the butterfly clip in her hair and turned to her lackey's. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful, my Queen." A vampire bowed his head.

Elizabeth took a deep unneeding breath and snuck out of the basement and into the empty hallway. She had been here a dozen times, of course, the Hellmouth resided here in the library where she was supposed to meet the gang.

As she walked down the hallway with aged confidence, Elizabeth paused remembering she was not two hundred and eighty-seven but a regular twenty-three year old like she was when she was a human. Elizabeth frowned unable to remember what it was even like to be human it was so many lifetimes ago. The world was so much different then than it is now. When she stopped and really thought about it, it boggled her mind of how many times she has seen the world change. She and her lover had been to many of the world events that shaped its future. Elizabeth often found herself wondering if she would've been so willing as she was then to be turned into a vampire.

Elizabeth pushed aside the thoughts and composed herself standing outside the library doors. She took a deep unneeded breath and entered with a gleaming smile, "Hey guys." She said with a pep they were accustomed too.

"Hey, Buffy."

"What's the what?" Elizabeth asked sliding onto a seat beside Xander.

Giles appeared from his office with Jenny Calendar with a book in his hand. "There's nothing in the Chronicles about an extraneous lunar cycle—" Giles paused mid-sentence when his eyes fell on Elizabeth. "Oh, when did you sneak in, Buffy?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond when Jenny continued the previous conversation.

"The Order never accurately calculated the Mesopotamian calendar! Rupert, you have to read something that was published after 1066."

Xander frowned, "What's the up, guys?"

"I don't suppose this was something about happy squirrels?" Elizabeth asked with a bit of hopefulness.

"Vampires," Giles replied.

Elizabeth looked at Xander with a shrug, "That was my next guess."

"Ms Calendar has been researching—surfing on her computer. According to her calendar, this Saturday is the Night of Saint Vigeous."

Faith twirled the stake in her hand around her fingers. "Lemme guess, the guy didn't make balloon animals."

"He led a crusade," Giles said plainly. "Of vampires. They swept through Odessa, Harran, and points east."

Jenny skimmed through the web page for information, "They didn't leave much behind."

"So Saturday's kind of a big do for bloodsuckers."

Jenny looked at Xander, "It's a Holy Night of Attack. They'll come in numbers."

Elizabeth listened closely blending herself into the background, she had no plans to celebrate the pointless night, she's never been one to follow national holidays but the more they spoke the more she became intrigued by this 'sacred' day. She plotted quickly which involved Angelus as the ringleader of the attack.

 **Crawford Mansion**

"You want me to do what now?" Angelus asked flatly unimpressed by his mate's grand plan.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. She crossed the small space between them to the couch sliding across his lap. Her hands cupped the back of his neck, threading into his hair, "I want you to make an appearance to them. They're expecting a fleet to attack Sunnydale this Saturday."

"So you want me to be target A?" Angelus raised a high brow. "No,"

"It'll distract them while I gain their trust." Elizabeth quickly added.

"How are you going to do that?"

Elizabeth ran her fingers down his cheek, cutting a small slit across his skin with her manicured nail. "I'll reveal my true self to them."

"Buffy... I don't know." Angelus began. "They're gonna find out that you're really you and I'm really me and they're going to hunt us down—"

"—Not unless I tell them I'm one of the good guys."

"Vampire doesn't exactly scream nice and cuddly."

Elizabeth licked her tongue over the slit, tasting his powerful blood. "It does when you have a soul." She whispered into his ear and nipped at his earlobe.

Angelus turned his head looking down at her with amazement. He felt himself falling for her all over again. "You are my black Queen." He laced his fingers through her hair feeling its softness.

Elizabeth's smile widened as she leant closer to his mouth and captured his lips in a searing kiss.

 **The Bronze**

Sitting at the table, Elizabeth sipping her drink listening to Willow try to teach Faith French but it failing miserably.

"La vache doit me touche de la jeudi." Faith stuttered through her textbook.

Willow frowned, "No, but... you said, the cow should touch me from Thursday. And you said it wrong."

With a huff, Faith closed the textbook on the table, "Je stink."

"Ne vous inquiétez pas Faith. Le plus vous pratiquez, plus vous deviendrez. _(Don't worry Faith. The more you practice the better you will become.)_ " Elizabeth said surprising the girls sitting with her. She blinked looking up from her drink, "W-what?" She looked at them slightly embarrassed.

Willow shook her head reeling from the shock when Xander danced his way over from the dance floor. "Guys! I'm all alone out there! Somebody has to dance with me."

"Well, we're studying..." Willow turned the textbook page in front of her.

"C'mon, one dance! You've been studying for what... twelve minutes?"

Elizabeth stood from her tall stool wrapping a hand around Xander's arm, "I'm in."

The crew got up and make their way to the dance floor dancing to the rock song.

In the back corner of the club, a dark figure watched them closely tracking their every move. His eyes went from the redhead he presumed to be Willow. According to his love, Willow is the intelligent high schooler with an interest in magic. The dark haired boy drooling over Elizabeth is Xander and the brunette is the Slayer, Faith. His eyes narrowed watching the Vampire Slayer sway her hips, seducing the young men around her. Angelus rolled his eyes finding her naive and inexperienced.

Angelus circled around a group in the shadows like a predator stalking his prey. He stopped when his eyes fell on Elizabeth. He watched her move to the seductive rhythm hypnotising him. She had a sensual grace when she danced. She raised her arms above her head crossing her wrists. Her eyes closed feeling the music as she swayed erotically enticing him. Angelus licked his lips just thinking of what he was going to do to her later in the night. He closed his eyes composing himself and his inner desire.

The Master Vampire turned to the bar to a vampire awaiting his orders. "Go get something to eat." Angelus crossed his arms watching the vampire take a girl under his arm.

Angelus moved to the dance floor, "Where's the phone?" He began. "I need to call the police. There's someone out back trying to bite a girl."

In a flash, Faith took off with Willow and Xander following behind while Elizabeth held back and tossed her lover a winked before heading out to the back alley.

* * *

The vampire looked up from the girl strained in his hand's neck and growled at the brunette, "Slayer."

Faith whipped out a stake from her back pocket ready for action. "Slay-ee." She attacked the vampire with a fiery force while Willow and Xander stood behind watching desperately while Elizabeth studied the young Slayer carefully. She was a scrapie fighter, her punches and kicks were unclean and wild. Faith was not as quick as Elizabeth expected maybe with more motivation she will be.

The vampire snarled, "I don't need to wait for Saint Vigeous. Your mine!" He attacked the Slayer. Faith threw the vampire into the wall watching him fall onto his back, "Angelus, give me a hand!" Faith staked the vampire to dust and wiped her hands turning back to her friends when a loud clap echoed against the brick walls and a dark and handsome vampire emerged from the darkness.

"Nice work, lass." He crossed his arms with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Faith asked on guard sensing he was a vampire.

Angelus moved around toward the end of the hallway stuffing his hands into the pockets of his long leather coat slowly stepping back into the black shadows. "You'll find out on Saturday."

"What happens on Saturday?" Faith called out.

"I kill you." A smug smile dancing on his lips as he ominously disappeared.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

"Angelus?" Giles asked with surprise immediately disappearing into his back office for his books. "Are you sure that's what the other vampire called him? Angelus?" Giles poked his head out from the office doorway.

"Yeah. I'm sure." Faith said sitting in the chair bored out of her mind.

Xander paced back in forth with worry. "I don't like this. A vampire should not be that good looking."

Jenny rolled her eyes, "Whoever he is, we'll need all the help we can get come this Saturday."

Xander looked at Jenny wagging his hand at her. "She's got a point. This Night of Saint Vigeous deal, if they're gonna attack in force shouldn't we be thinkin' vacation?"

Willow shook her head, "We can't run, that would be wrong. Could we hide? I mean if that Angelus Guy is leading the attack... sorry, was that audible?" Willow sunk down in her chair.

Faith waved her head without a worry, "Whatever. This guy can't be any worse than any other vamp I've killed."

"I'm afraid this particular vampire far worse." Giles walked out of the office with an open book in his hand and worry written on his features. "There was nothing about Angelus in the texts, but then it occurred to me it's been ages since I've read the diaries of the Watchers who came before me."

Faith frowned, "You did all of that in three minutes?"

"Well, it wasn't hard. There's mention of a man about two hundred years ago in Ireland called, Angelus; the one with the angelic face." Giles lifted his eyes to the group.

With keen interest, Elizabeth sat back in her chair giving the Watcher her full attention.

"So Angelus' been around for a while," Willow said.

"Not long for a vampire, two hundred and forty years or so." Giles turned to Elizabeth sitting nearest to him. "Do you know of him, Buffy?"

Elizabeth frowned pretending to rake her mind for any information regarding that nebulous image the Watcher had created. "Vaguely, he's known as, the Scourge of Europe, right?"

"I'm afraid to ask how he got that nickname." Xander huffed taking a seat beside Cordelia.

Giles skimmed over the text. "Well, it says here; Angelus leaves Ireland, wreaks havoc across Europe for decades, then claims a mate..." The Watcher silently read on with rising concern.

"What's a mate?" Willow asked.

Giles removed his glasses, "Mating is like a marriage of sorts. Only that it's a stronger bond and it lasts for eternity. Once you have claimed a mate, you may never annul a mate. There are no divorces in the Underworld."

"Everlasting love..." Faith frowned, "Doesn't really scream 'Evil'."

"What does the bond mean exactly?" Xander asked.

"Um... I don't really know. Mated couples have a strong sense of one another when they're near or in pain. From a passage I once read, when a mate is killed the remaining vampire or demon felt nothing but agonising and unbearable pain. Once you are mated, no other demon may touch you— if you understand my meaning..." Giles cleared his throat awkwardly. "It's known to all in every dimension, Good and Evil of whom you belong to."

"So this Angelus has a mate?" Jenny looked at Giles. "Is she dangerous?"

Giles turned the pages of the Watcher's Diaries. His face fell and his widened with apparent fear. "Oh, dear Lord." His voice trailed off leaving the room on edge.

"Giles!" Faith urged him on.

"Oh, sorry, it's just, it says here that Angelus' mate is Pulchra Creatura which is Latin and it translates to; Beautiful Creature."

Faith shrugged, "So?"

"Pulchra Creatura is commonly knowns as, Elizabeth. She hails from the wealthy part of England. She is known to be one of the worst kind of demon. Sired by Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. We all know him as simply, Count Dracula—"

"—She was sired by Dracula!" Xander shouted with wide astonished eyes. "Wait, what does Sire mean?"

"He turned her into a vampire," Elizabeth said before Giles had the chance to answer.

Giles looked at the blonde, "Do you know of Elizabeth, Buffy?"

Elizabeth looked up at him from under her long black lashes and played dumb, "Ugh... just from urban legends. She ran around with Drac for a while then they broke up sometime between the French Revolution and the Crimean War. Which would mean she's been mated to Angelus for about... a hundred and forty years give or take... Gee that's a long time..." she frowned feeling the sudden weight of her age. _You're three hundred and ten and that's counting your human years!_

Giles looked up to Xander, "I think your suggestion of running away this Saturday may have been a good one. Elizabeth had fought eight Vampire Slayers in the last century and she's killed them all. She's been suitably dubbed, The Slayer of Slayers." Giles read the text and looked up at Faith.

The Scoobies stared at the Watcher with wide frightened eyes. Elizabeth stayed quiet blending into the background relishing the scent of their fear.

 **Crawford Mansion**

 **Master Bedroom**

Elizabeth closed the door behind her and turned to see Angelus sitting in the bed with an open sketchbook over his knee.

Elizabeth slipped off her shoes and crossed the room to him. She climbed onto the bed and laid her head against his shoulder watching him move the charcoal across the page creating delicate lines.

"Did you have a good day?" Angelus asked without looking up from the sketchbook.

"They learned about us."

Angelus turned his head to her, "They know about you?"

"No, not _know_ , know but they're aware that you and I are mated and she's very dangerous."

Angelus grinned, "You bet she is." He dipped his head down, pressing his mouth over hers in a soft kiss.

"This is beautiful." Elizabeth took the sketchbook and looked over his new drawing. She loved to thumb through his sketchbooks and books of original drawings. They were a sort of diary telling his story from who he was to who he is now. Many of his sketchbooks were filled with just Elizabeth. He obsessed over the tiniest details which made the drawing breathtaking. He drew every significant thing that had ever happened in his long life into his sketchbooks.

Elizabeth's eyes ran over the small child dying on the floor of his home with his parents tied to a chair watching desperately unable to do a thing. "Any word on Spike and Drusilla?"

"They should arrive any time now."

With a nod, Elizabeth removed the sketchbook from his hand and placed it on the nightstand. "Good," she sat up and positioned herself across his lap, straddling him. "We will need them." She took off her blouse top and removed the black lace bra from her shoulders.

Angelus pushed aside the art supplies letting his eyes fall over her beautiful body. Even after all this time, he always looked at her as if it were his first time doing so. If he were alive, her beauty alone would've taken his breath away.

"What do you want me to do on Saint Vigeous?" Angelus asked.

Elizabeth opened his shirt then leant forward, kissing the scarred mark on his neck. "Since when do we ever play by the rules, lover?"

Angelus grinned clenching his hands around her bottom, "Never."

Elizabeth drew her head back to look at him. "Tomorrow then. Take them by surprise. But don't kill them."

"C'mon, Buf, now you're just stealing my fun."

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and ground herself over his erection causing him to moan. "I'll make it up to you, baby."

Angelus ripped off her skirt then impatiently unfastened the buttons of his pants. He rolled her onto her back and settled between her legs.

His mouth coated her body with cool wet kisses, tasting her skin. Angelus picked up his head and asked, "What about the others, you said tomorrow was their fucking parent's thing or another..."

"It is." Elizabeth dragged her hands from around his face and down his chest. Angelus groaned with desire when she grasped her hand around his standing cock. She watched his face with amusement as he succumbed to her seduction. "Kill the parents for all I care." She whispered into his ear and bit his earlobe with blunt teeth.

Angelus lifted his head narrowing his eyes over her and entered her body with unrelenting force. Her fingers dug into his shoulders but she did not shudder away. She never shuddered away from him.

He rolled his hips at a ruthless pace. Angelus growled at the magical warmth she always seemed to create whenever he entered her body. She urged him to hasten the already merciless pace as the heels of her feet dug into the backs of his thighs.

Elizabeth grabbed his face with her hands and smashed her mouth to his lips. Her tongue slipped between the barrier of his lips and duelled against his for dominance.

 **Next Evening**

 **Sunnydale High Lobby**

Elizabeth entered the school moving around unseen by the teachers and parents. She turned the corner and bumped into a short troll looking man.

Principal Snyder glared at the blonde woman seeing trouble written all over her face. "You. I know you," Snyder sneered. "l wonder what fantastical excuse you will suddenly come up with to explain why you are late. Where's your mother?"

Elizabeth gave him her best pout, "Well, gee, I don't know, Mister."

"There are things I will not tolerate. Students loitering on campus after school. Horrible murders with hearts being removed. And also smoking." Snyder glared.

Elizabeth raised a high brow unthreatened by the short man. A sudden hand clenched around the principal's neck. She lifted him slightly off of the ground and slammed his back against the lockers. Snyder's eyes widened frightened of the seemingly frail young woman.

"Y-you're her." Snyder swallowed with petrified fear.

Her hand tightened around his neck. "I will say this to you once. And only once. If you ever speak to me that way again, I will rip you open by your spine you worthless troll." Elizabeth dropped the Principal onto his feet.

"I'm so sorry." Snyder bowed his head begging for her forgiveness.

Elizabeth took his tie and wiped invisible dirt from her hands. "In a few minutes, Angelus will be crashing through that window with his men." She pointed to the large window in the lobby with her eyes. "If you get in his way, I cannot guarantee that you won't be harmed. So..." Elizabeth looked at Snyder, "Run." She patted his balding head.

Snyder took off in the opposite direction when the hall lights turned off.

* * *

Like clockwork, Angelus kicked through the large glass window. The vampire lackey's invaded into the school from behind the Master Vampire while everyone else ran away with a fright.

"What can I say?" Angelus grinned flashing his fangs. "I couldn't wait." He set his eyes on Faith standing across the hall. She ran in the opposite direction to the library with Xander following behind her.

Willow and Cordelia took off in the opposite direction finding an empty closet.

Angelus stepped down the small steps to the older man one of his lackey's had in its tight grasp.

The vampire flunkies ran back into the lobby awaiting their Master's orders. "We cut the power, nobody got out." A vampire said.

"And the Slayer?" Angelus turned his eyes golden eyes from the old man to the vampire.

The vampire frowned nervously, "She either went that way... or that way. I saw two others—"

Angelus growled grabbing the vampire by the front of its shirt. " _You don't know?_ " Angelus roared. He dropped the vampire and took the older man by his neck and spun it around violently. "God, that feels good."

The swirling pleasurable wave in his chest told him that his mate was coming up behind. Angelus turned morphing from his demonic features to his handsome disguise. "Buffy?" He grinned with genuine happiness to see her.

Elizabeth emerged from the darkness. "What are you doing here, _Angelus_?"

"I wanted to see you." He told her as if it were obvious.

She expertly masked her amusement and ran her eyes over him. "It's been awhile."

"A lifetime or two, but who's counting." Angelus smiled darkly. He took a moment to soak in the sight before him. She always knew how to dress for him, even if her fashion choice for the evening was a bit delinquent, it still had his blood boiling. She wore a tan, a black striped v-neck sweater which hugged her curves perfectly. The black miniskirt settled on her hip was the perfect length. It did not reveal too much giving the ability to let the imagination run wild. His eyes lifted to the black choker around her perfect and smooth neck, covering her mate's scar. "Why, Ms Summers, you're beautiful." He licked his lips hungrily.

"Why are you here, Angelus?"

Angelus took a step forward wearing a mocking innocent face. "Well, I've been looking for you baby. Gosh, I was really hoping we can give us another go. What do you think, do we have a shot?"

Elizabeth did not respond only glaring at the vampire, "You shouldn't have come here."

"Why? Because of the Slayer? Ooh! I'm so scared!" Angelus laughed stepping closer. "I will kill her. I will kill her friends and her little dog, too. And I'll make you watch when I do. Mark my words, lover, this isn't over. Not. One. Bit." Angelus kissed the tip of her nose gently then spun away on his boot heel grabbing another captured human and sank his teeth into him before dropping him down to the ground making his grand exit.

Elizabeth watched the other vampire turn away quickly following their leader.

"Buffy?" The vampire turned to Faith standing at the end of the hallway holding a stake high in her hand. "What the fuck is going on?"


	10. Chapter 9

**Sunnydale, California**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Elizabeth stood across the room under the weight of the heavy glares from the Scoobies.

She had spent the past months carefully creating friendships with each member of the group, slowly gaining their trust. Now they were afraid of her, aiming stakes and crossbows at her unbeating heart.

"Who are you?" Giles asked with his finger over the crossbow's trigger ready to fire.

"I'm Buffy," Elizabeth replied without hesitation.

Faith frowned, "You were talking to that Angelus guy. You knew him, didn't you? You knew him the entire time! Haven't you?" Faith shouted angrily.

Elizabeth looked at the dark haired Slayer, "I did."

"Why didn't say anything before?" Jenny asked unable to mask the betrayal from her voice.

"This isn't about blame!" Willow interjected. "We're not blaming you, Buffy. We're just... confused... I mean, you knew this vampire and for months you didn't say a thing about it." Willow tried to reason.

Elizabeth wrung her hands together nervously, "I—I didn't want you to know who —what I really was."

"And that is?" Xander urged her response.

Elizabeth lifted her eyes to his, "A demon."

"W—what?" Willow said not expecting to hear that.

With a deep unneeded breath, Elizabeth continued filling her voice with shame, "My given name is Elizabeth Anne Summers. I was born in 1687 in London, England to Hank and Joyce Summers." She watched their eyes grow large with shock. "On the 15th of May, 1710 at twenty-three years old, I was turned into a vampire by Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia."

Giles shook his head trying desperately to wrap his mind around her true identity. "Your Sire is Vlad the Impaler?"

"Yes, he is. But... Vlad was much more than that to me than _just_ my Sire." Elizabeth was unable to hide the disgust in her eyes.

"You took him as your lover." Giles slowly pieced together the long history between the Sire and Childe.

"I did. For a hundred and thirty-eight years I shared everything with him. But my heart belonged to another."

Xander frowned, "Your heart? You're dead. You don't have a heart." His words bit out with a sharp tongue.

Faith squinted her eye perfecting her aim over the vampires heart. "Are you saying you can love?"

Elizabeth did not respond.

"You can't feel love." Faith sneered. "Whatever you think you're feeling it wasn't love. You can't love without a soul."

A slowly haunting smile slid across Elizabeth's mouth, "Oh, we can. We can love quite well... if not wisely." Her face fell with despair continuing her tortured act.

"What of Angelus? Giles began. "Faith said you looked intimate."

Elizabeth lifted her eyes, "I haven't seen him in a century. It's true, we were mated but when I regained my soul—"

"—I beg your pardon?" Giles interrupted with surprise.

Elizabeth looked at the older Watcher ready to say her big reveal. "For more than a two hundred years, I offered nothing but death and carnage to everyone I met. It was an easy way to live. You have no conscious when you die. All of your morals and ethics, they go out the window. But sooner or later, it'll catch up. I killed a young boy, six years old. He was a favourite amongst his clan."

"Clan?" Willow asked.

For a flash of a second, the eyes of the vampire shot to Jenny's face. The computer teacher was not fooling her, Elizabeth knew she came from a long line of gypsy's. She reeked like a gypsy.

"Gypsies. Just about the turn of the century the elders conjured the perfect punishment for me. Well, his _mother_ created the punishment. She restored my soul."

"Why not torture?" Xander asked.

Elizabeth smirked at the obvious foolishness of the group. "When you become a vampire, the demon takes over your body but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone. No conscience or remorse... Nothing to hold you back. Why do you think it's so easy for us to kill?" She didn't wait for a response when she continued, "You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done and see their pleading faces every single day... To _feel_ their pain that _I_ caused. I haven't fed on a human being since that day." She paused letting her words soak into their minds.

"After that, Angelus found me 'unattractive' but because we were mated and there are no divorces in our world, he's bound to me. But I couldn't... I couldn't be the demon wanted me to be. I couldn't be with a man who killed everyone in his path for enjoyment. I could no longer stand his abuse, his rape, his torture... So I ran. I came to America. For a hundred years I fed off of rats, broke into medical facilities... I dropped my accent to blend in with the Americans so Angelus could never find me again. I kept a low profile until I heard about you." Elizabeth shifted her eyes to Faith. "I knew I had a greater purpose. It was to help you."

"So you had no idea Angelus was even in town?" Faith asked.

"I'm not surprised. We are on a Hellmouth. A strong one at that. Who knows what other demons or vampires are going to come here."

Xander lowered his weapon, "So you're a vampire with a soul?"

"Technically."

"And you're a Good guy?"

Elizabeth nodded her head, "Go team."

"I think this is enough for one evening." Elizabeth could see the Watcher's mind was on an overload. She knew he was going to consult every book and Watcher Diary scrounge up in order to learn about her. But she can also see that he believed her lies. They all believed her lies. Elizabeth inwardly applauded herself. Her plan was falling into place perfectly, she was going to give Angelus a great big kiss when she got home.

 **Crawford Mansion**

 **Library**

Sitting by the fire with a book in his hand, Angelus knew that Elizabeth was in the mansion before she even stepped through the front door. A tingling sensation swirled in his chest that warmed his cold dead body. A small smile crossed his lips when he heard the library door click open then softly close.

He waited patiently when two strong arms wrapped around him from behind. He smirked feeling a pair of perfect, soft lips press against the skin of his neck.

"Hey," Elizabeth whispered burying her nose into his hair.

"Hey," Angelus did not remove his eyes from the pages of the book. He intended for her to put a bit of effort into getting his attention.

Elizabeth moved around the chair taking the book from his hands and slid across his lap. She ran a hand down his clean-shaven cheek. With her forefinger and thumb, Elizabeth tilted his chin upwards and dipped her head down capturing his mouth. Her tongue slid across his lips requesting entry. Angelus gladly obliged, opening his mouth wider, letting her devour him. She tasted of copper and something sweet. Angelus wondered what she could have had eaten that was sweet or perhaps it was just her natural taste.

Elizabeth drew her head back breaking the kiss. Her finger traced over his lips, "Thank you."

"I take it that they believed you."

"Every sobbing word."

Angelus chuckled, "They actually believed that _you_ possess a soul?"

"It's all heartfelt and tortured." Elizabeth smiled.

Angelus grinned taking her finger into his mouth. "I have received word of Dru and Spike."

"And?"

"They found a bit of trouble back in England. William found himself against a mob. The _boy_ doesn't know when to shut up." Angelus sighed heavily and continued, "All should 'work out' and they will be here within the week." Angelus tucked her hair behind her ear tenderly. "What is your next step in your devious plan?"

Elizabeth shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'll just kill 'em."

Angelus shook his head with disapproval, "No. Absolutely not. I risked my own neck because of you. We're going to play with them and then you may kill them."

Elizabeth sighed heavily, "Fine. Whatever..."

"Your birthday is soon... You still haven't told me what you wanted." Angelus ran his hand down the length of her body.

Elizabeth turned her head and ran her fingers through his spiky brown hair, "Surprise me."

Angelus brushed his nose against hers and smiled, "Okay. I will." Angelus closed the small space between their mouths.

 **Jenny Calendar's Gypsy Uncle's Room**

Jenny stood across her Uncle as he sat in an armchair contemplating the new evil in the town. The older man ran a hand down his unshaven face. His deep worry lines pinched together as he took in the news.

"Are you certain Angelus is here and he is real?"

"I saw him with my own eyes." Jenny said holding her hands behind her back. "As well as Elizabeth."

Uncle's face fell in horror. "Pulchra Creature." He whispered the infamous vampire's name. "We are in danger. The two of them together is dangerous..."

"She's good now, Uncle. She has a soul."

Uncle frowned, "It cannot be true. She can't possess a soul, nothing is written about that event ever taking place. She and Angelus are the most dangerous pair."

"But she's good, Uncle. I've seen it myself."

"You were sent here for a reason Janna. To keep the Slayer safe. We could not have foreseen this." Uncle stood from the armchair and paced back and forth in deep thought. "You have to keep Elizabeth away from the Slayer. I don't trust her. Where she is, Angelus will follow. They are mates."

"This is foolish, Uncle."

Uncle turned from the fireplace and looked at his niece with large sad eyes, "We are all fools."

 **Two Days Later**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

"Buffy!" Willow said with excitement when Elizabeth entered the library just as the Californian sun went down. Two days had passed and not one sound from Angelus. This made Giles and the Scoobies weary. It usually meant something big was going to happen very soon.

"Hey," Elizabeth smiled her best smile to the redhead. She had to admit, Elizabeth did actually took a liking to the young teen. In another life she thought they would've been really great friends. _Maybe at the end of all of this, I'll turn her._ Elizabeth thought to herself.

"Oh, Buffy," Giles said appearing from up the stairs behind the bookcases. "It's good you're here. I had some questions."

Elizabeth smiled and watched him come down the steps with Jenny following him. She took a keen interest in the young gypsy woman wondering what reason she was here for.

Xander, Cordelia, and Oz entered the library discussing the surprise birthday party for Faith.

Giles turned his head from Elizabeth to the small group. "I trust that everything is in order for the party."

"Absolutely," Xander grinned. "Ready to get down, you funky party weasel?"

Giles frown earning a small laugh from Willow and Elizabeth.

Faith walked through the swinging double doors heading towards the group. "Faith!" Xander turned to her wearing a goofy grin. "I feel a pre-birthday spanking coming on."

Faith raised a high brow unamused.

"Check. Cancel the spanking." Xander said into an imaginary walkie-talkie microphone on his shirt.

Giles frowned at her glum expression. "What's the matter, Faith? You look fatigued."

Faith shrugged, "I had a dream that Angelus attacked us." Her brown eyes went to Elizabeth standing in the background with Willow. "You know anything about this?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "I don't. Was he just attacking you? Was it a gang? A football squad of demons?"

"I've just got a bad feeling that your boyfriend is going to attack us at any moment."

"He's _not_ my boyfriend." Elizabeth said voicing her apparent disgust.

"So you know of nothing, Buffy?" Giles asked.

"I haven't been in contact with him since 1897. I don't know. I'm sorry."

Willow looked at Elizabeth in amazement, "Wow, two centuries of dating. If you only had two a year that'd still be like four hundred dates with four hundred different—" Willow blinked feeling her cheeks heat with embarrassment. "Why do they call it a mace?" She took a sudden interest in the weapons displayed across the table.

Elizabeth watched the redhead with amusement for a moment and made a mental note to Sire Willow when all of this was over.

"Anyway..." Faith rolled her eyes, "I've just got a bad feeling. This wasn't a normal dream."

"You feel it was more of a portent?" Giles asked.

"I don't know." Faith began to pace. "I don't want to start to freak out over nothing."

"Still," Elizabeth began. "We should be on alert. If Angelus is going to attack you, he's probably planning something in the destruction category. I'll ask around the Underworld see if they heard anything."

Jenny looked at Elizabeth peculiarly, "You still have contacts in the Underworld?"

"I assume with your, um, impressive demonic resume, you would rank fairly high in the hierarchy of the Underworld." Giles waited for the vampiress's reply.

Elizabeth shrugged, "I pretty much punch people until they tell me what I want to know."

"Necessary violence—Nice," Xander smirked.

"I'm not exactly the most 'liked' demon in all of the lands. Since since I've jumped ship to the 'White Hats'... I'm surprisingly not as popular." Elizabeth shrugged.

 **Crawford Mansion**

 **Main** **Area**

Dalton, the vampire transcriber looked over the ornate wooden box on the large long dining table. "These are the parts, Master." The vampire turned to Angelus standing the background watching the transcriber log each box.

"They better be. This evening must be perfect." He said and stepped out from the shadows eyeing something on the long table. "There is a piece missing." His gaze turned to Dalton. Angelus grabbed the vampire by the front of his shirt. "Where is it?"

"We—we will find it, Master."

"You better." Angelus dropped the lackey to the ground.

From the entry doorway, Elizabeth moved around the party decorators noting each piece. She frowned looking at the blood red roses and shook her head. "No, no..." Elizabeth turned to the vampire florist waiting patiently behind her. "These are all wrong. I wanted _white_ roses. These are just... depressing."

Angelus snaked his arms around Elizabeth's waist and pressed his cool lips over the mark scarred on her neck. "I've missed you."

"I don't have much time. I'm meeting the gang at the Bronze in an hour. Faith's surprise party." She rolled her eyes with disinterest.

"Her birthday is on the same day as your own? What a coincidence?" Angelus grinned sinisterly. "Would you like a peek at your gifts?" He stepped around her holding out his hand for her to take.

Elizabeth smiled and took his hand letting him lead her across the main sitting room to the spread of boxes on the floor.

"It reeks of death." Elizabeth said closing her eyes and breathing in the sulphur scent. "We have a problem."

"And that is?" Angelus asked nipping her earlobe with his teeth.

"The Gypsy is hiding something from me. She knows something. It might having something to do with the old man following her around."

Angelus kissed her neck, "What do you suppose with do about it, my love?"

"Kill the old man."

 **Jenny Calendar's Gypsy Uncle's Room**

Uncle sat in his armchair facing the front window waiting for the sunrise. The nights since he's arrived to Sunnydale had been sleepless. His ears perked with the door behind him quietly closed.

"I knew you would come. I suppose you want answers." The Gypsy man turned to see Angelus and Elizabeth standing behind him leaning one another.

"No, not really." Angelus darkly grinned.

"You! You're the evil ones." Uncle jumped to his feet and stepped back against the wall trying desperately to distance himself from them.

Elizabeth frowned with childlike innocence, "Evil ones? Well, gosh, that kinda hurts my feelings, Mister. I mean... we're not all _that_ bad."

"What do you want?"

"That's the million-dollar question." Elizabeth held her hands behind her back stepping towards the old man with a casual ease. "What do I want? There's this wicked shoe sale at Neiman Marcus—"

"—You don't need anymore shoes, Buf." Angelus rolled his eyes.

Elizabeth frowned turning to Angelus. She looked at him with big sad puppy eyes that always won him over.

"No," He told her pointedly. "I'm not falling for your pout. You've burned a hole in my pocket for the last century because of these 'wicked shoe sales', enough."

A seductive smile slid across Elizabeth's mouth. Angelus' clenched his teeth and shook his head forcing himself not to fall for her act.

Uncle threw up his hand holding out a crucifix. Elizabeth and Angelus turned their heads pausing their disagreement and looked at the gypsy man.

Angelus took Uncle's wrist and held the crucifix against his chest. "A little lower... Ah... right there." He lowered the cross over his crotch. His eyes closed feeling the acid stings from the cross and his skin began to burn. "That feels good." Angelus grinned beaming with sexual gratification.

Uncle jerked his hand away frightened and repulsed.

"You gypsies..." Elizabeth shook her head with revulsion, "... You think you know what's to come, what we are... You have no idea." Elizabeth clenched her hand around Uncle's throat.

"You are an abomination." Uncle spat in Elizabeth's face.

Elizabeth's beautiful face darkened with a growl. She tossed the old man across the room hitting his back against the wall with a thud.

"Tsk. Tsk. That was a mistake." Angelus said watching Elizabeth cross the room in a fury. She grabbed Uncle by his collar and backhanded her fist across his face until her hand was stained with his blood.

Angelus moved around beside Elizabeth and knelt down eye level to the old man. "Now, we're going to play a game. It's called, we ask a question and you answer it. And if you don't, then, well, we torture you." Angelus sinisterly grinned. "But don't answer us quite just yet because I really want to torture you."

Elizabeth's hand slowly snaked across Angelus' shoulder with a scalpel in her hand and a grin on her face.


	11. Chapter 10

**Sunnydale, California**

 **The Bronze**

Giles, Jenny, Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia huddled in the dark empty club decorated for Faith's surprise party. Xander frowned glancing up at the clock from around the beam, "Where is she?"

Willow shrugged, "Buffy isn't here either."

"Shhh!" Cordelia flipped her hand shushing them. "I think I hear her coming-"

 **The Bronze Loading Dock**

Elizabeth walked with Faith down the loading dock of the Bronze to the door when they stopped watching three suspicious-looking vampire lift a rectangle box into the back of a cargo truck.

"This looks weird." Faith whispered.

"Hmm... yeah," Elizabeth smirked watching Dalton struggle to lift the box.

Faith tip-toed behind the vampires with her hands on her hips. "Every time I see you, you're stealing something." Faith recognised the intelligent vampire. "You should talk to somebody about this klepto issue."

The vampires spun around and attacked the Slayer.

Elizabeth gripped a hulky vampire's shoulder pulled away from Faith with a stake in her hand. She tossed him away and choked her hand around his throat. "Get gone." The Master Vampire whispered to the lackey.

Meanwhile, Faith fought another vampire crashing through the window leaving Elizabeth with Dalton.

"Leave the box, you incompetent moron," Elizabeth ordered keeping her stare firmly on the fight. "I'll handle it."

Dalton did not need to be told twice before he took off back to Crawford Mansion.

Elizabeth released a heavy breath and lifted the box from the ground and headed into the Bronze.

 **The Bronze**

Elizabeth entered the club through the shattered window holding the wooden iron box in her arms. She peered over it to Giles and Xander to help her. "Some help would be nice."

Giles and Xander took the box from her arms and carried it over to a table. "What happened?" Giles asked.

Faith stretched out her arms, "There were these vamps in the alley. One of them were Angelus' guys—" She looked around the club noticing the party decorations with a smile. "What did you guys do?"

Giles looked at his Slayer, "Surprise party." He lamely blew the party horn.

Jenny stood over the box examining it curiously, "What is it?"

"Those creeps left it behind," Elizabeth said dusting off her hands.

Giles removed his glasses with a frown. "I have no idea. Can it be opened?"

Faith cautiously opened the lid and peeked into the box. The Scoobies sneak a glance to see a heavily armoured arm. The arm shot up from the box and gripped tightly around her neck. Elizabeth took the arm and forced it back down into the box then slammed the lid closed, locking it.

Xander blinked dumbfounded, "Clearly, the Hellmouth's answer to 'what do you get the Slayer who has everything'?"

Giles placed a hand on Faith's shoulder, "Good heavens, Faith, are you alright?"

"Yeah, man, that thing had a wicked strong grip." Faith massaged her sore neck.

Willow frowned, "What, what was that?"

Oz leant over to her and whispered, "Looked like an arm."

Elizabeth stared at the arm with troubled eyes and shook her head stepping forward, running a gentle hand over the closed box. "It can't be... He wouldn't..."

"What? The vamp version of 'snakes in a can'? Or do you care to share?" Xander looked at the vampire.

Elizabeth swallowed, "There's a legend. Way before my time. Of a demon brought forth to rid the earth of the plague of humanity." She removed her hand and looked at Faith and Giles. "To separate the righteous from the wicked... and burn the righteous down. They called him the Judge."

Giles' head snapped up with surprise, "The Judge? This is he?"

"Part of him." She shrugged. "He couldn't be killed. So an army was sent against him. Most of them died, of course, but they were finally able to dismember him. But it didn't kill him. The pieces were buried all over the earth never to be found."

"Until Angelus," Xander said staring at the box in disbelief. "Man, I hate that guy."

Elizabeth's eyes shot to the teenager's face but did not respond, plotting his death in her mind.

Jenny looked at Giles, "So all these parts are being brought here."

"By Angelus," Elizabeth said turning her eyes away from the gang with turmoil lingering in her eyes. "He's just crazy enough to do it."

"To do what? Reassembled the Judge?" Willow asked.

"And start an Armageddon." Elizabeth looked at the redhead desperately suppressing her urge to smile.

Giles gasped and looked at Faith, "We have to get this out of town."

"I can do it," Elizabeth said. "Faith can't go but I can. I'm strong enough to protect this thing."

Faith turned to the vampire folding her arms across her chest. "Where would you take it?" She winced at the harshness of her question but she did not fully trust the vampire.

"Somewhere far, far away." Elizabeth closed the box lid over the armoured arm.

Faith laid her hand over the lid of the box stopping Elizabeth from leaving with it. "I'm going with you."

A hint of a smile tugged at Elizabeth's lips when she said, "Fine. But we have to move fast."

 **Ship Docks**

Elizabeth and Faith walked side by side down the wooden docks.

Slung over her shoulder, Elizabeth held on to the Judge's arm. Her eyes went to the corner near a stack of crates and saw shadowed figures disappear behind them.

"It's quiet." Elizabeth broke the silence in the air.

Faith frowned taking everything around carefully. Her guard was high up. In the corner of her eye, watching Elizabeth sceptical gaze. She believed that the vampire had a soul. She never gave her a reason to think any different. But there was something missing and Faith had no idea what. She just knew, unlike the rest of the group, she did not fully trust the vampire. Perhaps it was because she was still a demon inside.

"Wait here." Elizabeth suddenly said.

Faith stopped mid-step and looked at Elizabeth, "What? Why?" She gripped the stake hidden in her back pocket.

Elizabeth faced the Vampire Slayer, "Because I'm going to check the ship's schedule. Stay here with the arm." She gently placed the box down in front of Faith's feet and disappeared into the darkness leaving the Slayer alone.

Faith crossed her arms and rolled her neck as she waited.

Suddenly, Dalton and two other lackey vampires leapt out from behind a cargo net and attacked the vampire Slayer down to the ground.

Faith punched the vampire off of her and slid the wooden box further away out of the vampires reach as they fought her.

"Buffy!" Faith cried out struggling to break free from the chokehold.

Dalton looked at the Slayer than turned his head in search of the box. He spotted it near the edge of the dock near the water. He went to it when Elizabeth appeared again. She bent down and grabbed Dalton by his shirt collar and dragged him up to his feet. "Take the box and go." Elizabeth quietly ordered.

The vampire nodded his head and went to pick up the box when Elizabeth tapped his shoulder getting his attention. Dalton looked up at her. Elizabeth sucker punched him straight in the nose. He gushed from his nostrils. He nodded his head again and scampered off holding the box tightly in his arms.

Elizabeth waited until she could no longer see Dalton running through the shadows when she turned back around and went back to Faith's aide.

"A little help would be nice!" Faith shouted through gritted teeth.

Elizabeth grasped the vampire's shoulder and pulled him off of her. She pulled out of a stake tucked into the back of her pants and embedded it into the vampire's heart. She then held out her hand for the player to take.

"Where the hell were you?" Faith asked getting to her feet.

"I was attacked..." Elizabeth lied pointing into another direction. "Are you okay? Where's the box?" She searched around herself.

Faith's eyes widened, "They took it. Goddamnit! They took the fucking box!"

Ever the calm on in a stress situation, Elizabeth nodded and said, "We should split up and search for it."

"Do you know where it's going?"

Elizabeth looked at the dark haired Vampire Slayer with a frown, "I've got a pretty good idea."

 **Sometime Later**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Giles, Jenny, Xander, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz gathered around the long table surrounded by a large open pile of books waiting for Faith to return.

"Faith should be back by now..." Giles said with a frown worried for his Slayer.

Willow looked up from the book and shrugged, "Maybe she took a quick sweep across the cemetery."

"You know what's really sad?" Xander began sitting back in his chair.

"That now you have to drool all over Buffy from afar?" Cordelia rolled her eyes flipping the page of a fashion magazine spread out in front of her.

"Yes, well," Giles adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, "Now, our problem is what to do about Angelus."

Jenny nodded her head, "Yeah, when he finds out not only did his monster arm skip out of town but so did his ex-girlfriend."

Willow sat back in the chair, "Oy."

"We hadn't thought of that." Giles frowned removing the glasses from the bridge of his nose.

"What will happen?" Xander asked darting his eyes from Giles too Jenny.

Cordelia looked at the dark haired man, "Oh, I assume all hell will break loose."

"Yikes." Xander gulped with a fright.

The library doors swung open and Faith entered. "Angelus' guys ambushed us." She said and made a b-line into the back cage for weapons. "They took the box."

"Where's Buffy?" Giles asked.

"We split up. She had a lead on where Angelus is camping out. Some mansion or whatever on Crawford Street. I'm meeting her there."

Giles went to the weapons cage, "Well, you're not going alone. Xander," he gestured for him to come along.

Xander gathered a stake and crossbow from the table and rushed out of the library to catch up with the Watcher and Slayer.


	12. Chapter 11

**Crawford Mansion**

 **Ballroom**

The party was well underway by the time Elizabeth had returned to the lux mansion. She entered through the double doors and was delighted of how her party turned out. It seemed every upper-class demon was present at the lavish gathering.

Elizabeth moved through the room smiling at the white roses in her hand. She bent her head down and breathed its delicate scent when two strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind. "Is it to your taste, my love?" Angelus whispered into her ear and kissed her neck.

"And so much more," Elizabeth turned her head looking up at him. "Thank you." She said and pressed her mouth against his in a tender kiss.

Angelus grinned and twirled her round and round until her laugh bounced off the stone walls. It was such a sweet sound to his ears. Elizabeth gracefully spun around facing the room which had been watching her as well.

Elizabeth happily clapped her hands with delight. "More music!" She ordered the ten piece orchestra band placed in the corner of the room.

Elizabeth and Angelus walked hand in hand through the crowds of well-dressed vampires and demons bowing their heads down to the King and Queen of the Underworld.

"Happy birthday, my Buffy," Angelus said holding out his arm to reveal the newly assembled Judge.

Elizabeth stared at the blue horned demon wearing black armour and empty eyes with fascination. "Oh, Angel, it's perfect! Just what I wanted!" She hugged her lover tightly.

Angelus pushed her hair back behind her ear lovingly, "I'll always give you anything you desire." Angelus held out his hand for Elizabeth to take. "Dance with me."

Elizabeth smile accepting his hand. Angelus twirled her around and drew into his body, holding her tightly. His one hand rested on her lower back while other held onto her tiny hand. He lightly kissing her knuckles. Elizabeth laid her head over his chest, closing her eyes, enjoying every moment of her dance with her mate.

"Angel," Elizabeth whispered his name. Angelus ran the tips of his fingers over her dark smile waiting for her to finish. "They're here."

Angelus spun her around, so her back pressed against his chest. He circled his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. He kissed the mark on her neck. Elizabeth laid her head back against his collarbone and swayed to the music. They slowly turned their eyes upwards to the balcony where they spotted Faith, Giles, and Xander staring down at them with wide shocked eyes.

* * *

The threesome was forcibly escorted down from the balcony to Elizabeth and Angelus standing beside the Judge.

"Well, well, lookie what we have here, my love. Party crashers." Angelus moved around Elizabeth running his hand over the mark that scarred her neck.

"Oh, Angel, I'm sure their invitations just got lost in the mail." Elizabeth teased bearing her green eyes into Faith's skull. "That tends to happen from time to time."

Faith glared at the blonde vampire with hatred, "You played us!" The Slayer struggled to break free from the vampire lackey's grasp.

"Like a fiddle." Elizabeth grinned and bit her bottom lip. "But believe me, I had much fun as you did. Gaining your trust with my poor and tortured soul. For all the troubles I've gone through for Smurf-y here, it was oh so worth it."

"Why?" Giles asked standing straight seemingly unafraid of the vampiress.

"Why do anything?" Elizabeth asked. "Because of its _fun_." She tossed the Watcher a wink. "Believe when I say, you did not disappoint, isn't that right, my love."

Angelus sipped the glass of elegant blood-red wine in his hand. "No, they certainly did not."

"I can't believe how much I'm gonna kill you!" Faith challenged the vampires gritting her teeth angrily.

Unmoved by the Slayer's biting threats, Elizabeth stepped forward standing in front of the brunette running her eyes over the furious Slayer. She reached out a hand and gently touched Faith's cheek with the backs of her fingers. She looked at the dark haired woman curiously, "You have so much hate inside of you." Elizabeth's eyes locked with Faith's gaze. "I'm going to strangle you with it, Slayer." Elizabeth smiled warmly. "There is no stopping us. We will kill everyone around you and we'll make you watch." Elizabeth turned away from the three taking Angelus' hand that was extended out to her. "Let them go."

"My Queen?" The vampires looked at Elizabeth with confusion.

"It's a part of the game. Is it not?" Elizabeth looked up at Angelus following his lead out of the room disappearing with the Judge behind them. Leaving Faith, Giles, and Xander to fend for themselves in a party room filled with the Underworld's most devilish ghouls.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Willow, Oz, Jenny, and Cordelia jumped to their feet when Faith, Giles, and Xander returned back into the library. Their faces were white as snow. Their eyes held shock and fear.

"What is it? What happened?" Jenny asked.

"The Judge is assembled. But I'm afraid were have a bigger problem than what we've originally anticipated." Giles began. "It seems Buffy was not who we've thought her to be."

Willow frowned sensing something horrible had happened at the mansion. "What do you mean?"

"She's evil with a capital 'E'," Xander answered and fell into a chair with a heavy sigh.

Faith pushed her hair back with her fingers from the stress the night had turned into. "She played us all." She sat down beside Xander.

"This is _really_ bad, right?" Cordelia looked around terrified for herself.

Giles removed his glasses and ran a hand over his face, "In the worst possible way. Yes, this is very bad. She and Angelus together are an unstoppable force. No Slayer has ever defeated them."

"Thanks for the confidence builder, Jeeves." Faith rolled her eyes. "You said she's some notorious vampire or whatever, right?"

"That is what all of the passages in the diaries suggest." Giles picked up a Watcher's Diary he had been researching ever since finding out Elizabeth's true identity weeks ago. "She and Angelus are the vampires—demons the Underworld fear. Buffy is older than Angelus; about forty-two perhaps forty-three years older or so. She is known to be a vicious creature. Her legend is known throughout the world. She's a demon of elegance in nature. She relishes in fear and like Angelus, Buffy is a master torturer."

"A painter," Willow said thoughtfully. She felt the eyes of the room on her. Shyly, Willow took a seat beside Oz. "When we first met her," Willow looked at Faith, "her fingers were red. She said she was a painter." She suddenly felt very queasy at the thought of the evil being she had befriended.

"It's also been said that she's been somehow a part of many major revolutions throughout the world. The French Revolution, Crimean Conflict, even the Russian Revolution of 1917. She has many nicknames over the centuries... She has even been described as an 'artist' in many ways. Her trademark is to leave her victims on public display for all to see, known as her 'works of art'. Her 'masterpieces' are described as sculptures or gory pieces of art which were fitting for the Gothic age she's lived through. Yes, defeating Elizabeth and Angelus will be difficult." Giles closed the dairy and placed it down on a table.

Faith looked at her Watcher, "But not impossible?"

"Nothing is impossible—"

"—That's what my mother used to say." The gang turned their heads with surprise to see Elizabeth standing at the library doors wearing a dark smile.

Elizabeth stepped forward letting her evil power radiated off of her. She ran her fingers along the front counter and examined the book sitting there. "You would've liked my mother." She turned her eyes to Giles, "She was beautiful, kind... She had such a gentle nature. It's curious how a soul could be that bright—that pure..." Elizabeth's mind wondered off imagining her mother. "Unfortunately, her life did not end so kindly."

Faith stood from the chair holding a stake in her hand. "Lemme guess, you killed her?" Her words dripped with sarcasm.

Elizabeth grinned at the Vampire Slayer, "Oh, I did so much more than that, child. I tortured the soul out of her." Her beautiful face darkened as her smile of pure joy widened.

The Master Vampire moved around the library keeping her distance from the Scoobies, especially Faith. She was not ready to have a final showdown with the brunette. Elizabeth's playtime was far from over. Angelus eagerly planned masterful games for the 'White Hats'.

Elizabeth picked up the Watcher's Diary Giles had been holding moments before. She flipped the pages until falling on a drawing of Angelus. She ran her fingers over the pencil lines of his handsome face. She liked his long hair, she enjoyed running her fingers through it. "There was something so dignifying by the way men dressed way back then..." Her mind wandered back to Angelus standing stoically, holding out his hand for her to take.

On the other hand, Elizabeth rather fancied the fashion of her current time. _Of course_ _leather would look good on him._ Elizabeth licked her lips lustfully thinking of her lover.

Getting back to the haunting story of her mother, Elizabeth continued, "She was so strong willed—refusing to believe that her loving and _sweet_ baby girl had been changed into a ruthless demon. I tapped into my true self just as she always wanted me to do. After I took out her heart, I ripped her into pieces and finally, displayed her on a spike for the whole world to see. It was a fine masterpiece. It was a sort of my ode to young Artemisia Gentileschi." Elizabeth sighed closing her eyes remembering the shocked, god-fearing faces of the people of London. Elizabeth had started an uproar of witch hunts in the streets.

Elizabeth's dreamy expression fell away with a nonchalant shrug. She slammed the book in her hand closed. "What is past has passed, no use dwelling on it. I sure haven't." She tossed the book back onto the table sliding in front of Giles. "Believe me when I say, these next few months are going to be very exciting." Elizabeth hauntingly grinned, slowly turning away from them leaving the library terrified and on edge.

Elizabeth was right, the months that were to come was going to be very exciting indeed.


	13. Chapter 12

**One Month Later**

A roaring black 1959 DeSoto Fireflite with blackened windows crashed into the large 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign at the entrance of the Hellmouth town.

The driver's side door opened. His black steel-toed shit-kicker boot stepped out of the car one at a time.

Behind him, the music blared from the speakers:

 _"I am an antiChirst,_

 _I am an anarchist,_

 _Don't know what I want,_

 _But I know how to get it,_

 _I was to destroy the passerby."_

He reached a hand into his long leather duster coat taking out a cigarette and lighter. He took a long drag from the cigarette as he basked in the afterglow of his arrival when two pale thin arms wrapped around his neck.

He turned his platinum blonde head to the woman pressed up against him, grinning sharp fangs. "Home sweet home." The vampire chuckled turning his sights back out to the town.

 **Crawford Mansion**

Elizabeth laid on her back with a dreamy smile plastered across her face. She felt pleasantly sedated from her head to her toes.

Her eyes fell from the high ceiling to the dark haired vampire laying his head on her flat stomach. Mindlessly, Elizabeth's fingers combed through Angelus' dark spiky hair. She listened to his soft purrs completely relaxed.

It's been one month since finally revealing her true soulless self to the Slayer and her friends. Elizabeth and Angelus were giving them a run for their money. On the daily, they made sure the Scoobies found an innocent victim, particularly of people they knew throughout any given day.

It amazed Elizabeth how creative her mate could be. There was only so many places to put a body. Each and every time, Angelus found someplace new. His sick mind has always been a fascination for her. She was always curious about how his deranged thoughts came about. They had yet to use the Judge in their art of warfare. No, their plan for him was soon to come.

Elizabeth enjoyed the simple pleasures in her exceedingly long life. She enjoyed watching the shocked and terrified reactions from each and every one of the Scoobies. She enjoyed the taste of their salty tears. Elizabeth even enjoyed their anger and determination to destroy her and Angelus.

The next target she had decided was to dispose of the Gypsy. She could feel the computer teachers power from her long line of ancestors growing. It was better to take her out now before she gets any wild ideas. The expression on the Watcher's face when he finds her maliciously mutilated will be beautiful. She was sure of it.

It warmed her insides just thinking about it.

A soft knock sounded at the large wooden door. A moment later a vampire henchman entered the master bedroom. He stood at attention never turning his eyes to see the naked vampires sprawled out on the large bed.

"My King and Queen, new guests have arrived." He announced and immediately turned away, closing the door behind him.

Angelus growled waking up from the pleasant dream. He turned his face slightly and began to kiss Elizabeth's cool skin. He created an invisible path from her naval, between her breasts, collarbone, neck, until finally reaching her mouth.

Elizabeth smiled into his kiss adjusting herself slightly wanting him to settle between her legs. "Our guests, my love," she moaned grinding her centre over the tip of his teasing cock.

"Nevermind them." He said lowering his head to her neck, biting her scar. "I'm not nearly done with you yet, lover." He pushed himself into her without warning.

It sent a shooting chilling tingle down his spine when she yelped with surprise. His mate was strong, powerful, radiant with beauty, a soulless creature of the night but only for him did she ever show her true self.

* * *

Some time later, Elizabeth and Angelus made their way down to the main area of the mansion where their guests waited patiently.

Elizabeth paused at the entry. Angelus frowned looking down at her. She stared straight ahead with genuine surprise. A gothic vampire duo sat on a couch, waiting patiently.

Elizabeth's hand went to Angelus' arm. Inwardly, Angelus applauded himself only ever wanting to make his mate happy.

The dark haired woman stood from a chair and looked across the room directly at Elizabeth. A slow smile crossed her mouth. She appeared to be thinner, weaker than Elizabeth last remembered, which immediately gave her concern. But besides that, Elizabeth couldn't wait to hear their stories of adventures from the past hundred years.

"Mother Angel," Drusilla whispered slowly moving across the room to stand before the blonde haired vampire.

Elizabeth reached out her hand and idly combed her fingers through Drusilla's dark hair. "My child," she smiled wrapping her arms around the frail woman.

Drusilla laid her head on Elizabeth's shoulder as William and Angelus shook hands.

"I hope your travels were well," Angelus said to William.

"Only a few hiccups, nothin' I can't handle." William followed Angelus to a servant holding a tray of blood in an elegant wine glass.

Elizabeth wrapped her arm around Drusilla's shoulders and guided her back to the couch to sit down for a bit. Drusilla purred like a happy child finally reunited with her 'mother'.

"My god, William, do you not feed her anymore?" Elizabeth glared at William crossly as she ran her hands over Drusilla's thin face.

"'m afraid she's gotten worse since you last saw her," William said sitting down in a chair across from the couch.

Drusilla's eyes moved from Elizabeth to the vampires and demons moving around the mansion staying out of the way. "Look at all the people." She said quietly and laid her head back down onto Elizabeth's shoulder.

"Her strength is weakening, thanks to you lot." William tossed the mate's a sarcastic eye-roll.

"Watch your tongue, boy." Angelus narrowed his eyes on the outspoken vampire ready to pounce on him at any given moment.

Elizabeth rested a hand on Angelus' arm gaining his attention. The irruption and anger had suddenly dissipated from his dark eyes. "No need for that, love. William is just concerned for our Dru. Isn't that right?" She looked at William warningly.

William frowned knowing that Elizabeth was protecting him from Angelus' infamous wrath. If she hadn't, he knew Angelus would nail him to the wine cellar wall right beside Darla with even a flinch of a second-thought. "Yes, 'm just concerned is all."

Angelus visibly calmed down and released an unneeded breath. "You," he snapped his head to a henchman guarding the front door. "Get me fresh blood."

The henchman nodded his head.

"Now you moron!" Angelus roared.

The henchman scampers off to find a live human.

"My love," Elizabeth tilted her head to the side eyeing her mate.

William sat back in the chair crossing one leg over the other. "So, how about this Slayer, I've been hearing so much about. Is she tough?"

Angelus snorted a laugh, "Hardly."

Elizabeth smiled at the thought of Faith and her last gift she had left her. It was five slaughtered puppies nailed to the front door of her home. The Slayer's horrified reaction was priceless.

"Then why not with the killing yet? Scared are we?" William raised a brow.

"Tsk, tsk, oh Spiky, haven't you learned by now?" Elizabeth smiled softly, like a mother to her child. "The chase makes the blood sweeter. It's fuelled by fear. Unlike you, we take our time for the kill. I prefer not to be sloppy." She ran her eyes up and down the punk vampire knowing his killing style well; he was sloppy.

William darkly grinned, "I've missed you guys." He told them with honesty. "Europe was never the same after you left. So, where do we start?"

Angelus clapped his hands together once. From a dark corner, a blue horned demon appeared under the dim light. It was the Judge.

"What the bloody hell is that?" William stared at the demon while Drusilla laughed happily.

"Oh! I want to play with him, Mummy!" She looked at Elizabeth.

Angelus held out his hand for Drusilla to take. He led her and William to the demon staring down at them with black empty eyes.

Drusilla reached up and laid her hand softly on the Judge's armoured chest. "Do you like daisies?" She asked the Judge. "I plant them but they always die." Sadness fell over her fragile face. "Everything I put in the ground withers and dies. Spike, I'm cold."

Standing in the background, Elizabeth and Angelus watched with proud smiles as William whipped off the duster coat from his back and lovingly wrapped it around Drusilla's shoulders.

"I got you," William whispered kissing her nose.

"I'm a princess..."

William smiled and pushed her dark hair back over her shoulder.

Drusilla slowly turned back to her Sire's and said, "I can't see her. The Slayer. I can't. It's dark where she is... there is someone else." Elizabeth frowned looking up at Angelus, who thought the same.

Drusilla grabbed William's arm for support. "Kill her! Mummy... Daddy, kill her for, Princess."

Elizabeth stepped forward out from under Angelus' arm and stood in front of her Childe. With a gentle and motherly touch, Elizabeth traced the sharp line of Drusilla's nose. "Anything for you, dove." She let her forgotten English accent slip back into her words.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Giles stood in the doorway of Jenny's classroom watching her closely. The past months have been a whirlwind on all of them. Giles feared that this was not the worst of it.

"Orb of Thesulah." he said entering the classroom.

Jenny's head shot up with surprise not expecting to see him, "Oh, hi."

"You're working late."

Jenny nodded her head placing the orb carefully back down on a cloth and turned the computer screen toward Giles, "Special project."

Giles pushed himself from the doorway and stood behind her skimming the words on the screen. "Restoration?"

"My people used this to restore lost souls for the elders. But there is no record of it ever being used... on demons." Jenny looked at Giles meaningfully.

Giles removed his glasses reeling from his surprise, "You plan to restore their souls." It sounded more absurd said aloud than in his mind. "I thought that was impossible. Once a soul is lost, it is lost forever. The magic used to _find_ it is rooted from evil."

"Or in this case, Rumanian Gypsies. We have to try. Too many people are dying every day. Half of the senior class has been displayed all over Sunnydale. This needs to end. I'm afraid Faith won't be able to stop them."

Giles hated the feeling that she was right. He wasn't so sure himself that Faith would come out the winner in what will be a ferocious battle. "We need a way to destroy the Judge. He is their secret weapon. Weaken their artillery, then either kill those vampires once and for all or to—"

"—Curse them."

Giles nodded his head pushing his glasses back on eying the Gypsy woman strangely. "Curse them?"

"With Willow and I combined, we'd have enough power to perform this spell."

"It's too dangerous." Giles shook his head with disagreement.

"It's our only other option or otherwise we all die." Jenny looked at Giles.

Giles did not respond knowing how true her statement was. This was their only hope. It was the only plan worth using. Destroy the Judge and then Elizabeth and Angelus.

* * *

Hours passed since 'Plan: Destroy' was formed in the computer classroom.

The night was particularly quiet. There was a still calmness in the air. Jenny paid no mind to it as she stared at the computer screen. "Come on... Come on..." Her exhaustion and patients were beginning to wear thin.

Suddenly, something on the screen caught her eye and a wave of relief washed over her. She had found it; the trigger.

"That's it! This will work!" For the first time, Jenny truly felt that she was onto something worth using in the battle. Something that could change the tides completely.

 _"Toi qui, comme un coup de couteau,_ _(You who, like the stab of a knife,)_

 _Dans mon coeur plaintif es entrée;_ _(Entered my plaintive heart;)_

 _Toi qui, forte comme un troupeau_ _(You who, strong as a herd)_

 _De démons, vin, folle et parée,_ _(Of demons, came, ardent and adorned,)"_

Jenny's head shot up to the dark black shadows across the classroom. She quickly rejected a 3.5-inch disk from the drive and hid it under a pile of papers.

Angelus sat at a desk with one leg crossed over the other watching the brunette carefully. "The first time I ever heard _Le Vampire_ read aloud was in the year 1857, in a small cafe in Paris." Angelus closed his eyes remembering that day clearly. "It was the day I reunited with my mate. She looked so beautiful."

He imagined Elizabeth that night. He remembered the stylish gown she wore that evening in perfect detail. It was a black satin gown with lacy red roses trimmed at the bottom. She wore a matching black crepe hat with red roses on its brim. Large diamond earrings hung from her lobes and a black choker wrapped around her neck with a diamond hanging from its end settled over her cleavage.

Angelus opened his eyes and focused on Jenny's face. "My apologies, I help my wandering when I think of Buffy." He stood from the chair and came closer to the teacher's desk. "She couldn't be here this evening. She had another prior appointment. So I guess that only leaves me and you, Jenny."

Jenny watched in horror as his handsome features morphed into his true demonic face. Without a second thought, Jenny took off running outside the classroom.

Angelus grinned licking his lips, "I love it when they run." He calmly walked out of the classroom following the teacher's path.

Jenny pushed through the double doors in a panic. Glancing behind her, she saw Angelus walking across the courtyard wearing a hungry grin. "Run, run, run as fast as you can! I'll catch you... I'm the gingerbread man!" Angelus laughed.

Jenny sprinted across the lawn as fast as she could, coming upon another set of double doors. She rattled them open but it was locked. She turned her head to see a second door to the left. Jenny went to it and pushed it open without looking back to see how close Angelus was to her.

Entering into the school again, Angelus turned his yellow eyes around the darkness listening closely for the Gypsy woman. He heard her racing heartbeat up the stairs.

Jenny stood on the flat landing at the top of the stairs suffocating in the dead silence. She had no idea where Angelus disappeared to. She looked around her surroundings and noted the only two options she had in order to escape alive. One was to her left and the other was to her right. Both options were pathetic and almost impractical.

"I do enjoy a chase." Angelus' voice seemed to come from all directions confusing Jenny's senses. "I bet your blood is just pumping through your veins... hot and sweet it will be."

Jenny's frightened tears streamed down her face. There was no one to save her now. The library was too far, on the other side of the school. She was all alone with the vampire.

She backed herself up against a wall painting then closed her eyes gaining the courage to try to escape again.

When she turned, Angelus was standing closely behind her. He clamped one hand around her neck tightly and the other covering her mouth to muffle her screams.

"Sorry, Jenny, this is where you get off." He slammed her body into the wall knocking her own cold. He watched as she fell to the ground with a thud.

Angelus began to whistle an old Irish folk tune from his childhood. He crouched down in front of the unconscious woman and gently pushed her hair from her forehead. He smiled to himself feeling excited with anticipation for his lover's reaction to his gift.

 _ **Song Used: "Anarchy In The U.K." Sex Pistols 1977**_

 _ **Works: "Fleurs du mal"(Flowers of Evil)" Charles Baudelaire, 1857**_


	14. Chapter 13

**Crawford Mansion**

 **Wine Cellar**

"Wake up..." The distant whispering sound of a deep soft voice entered Jenny's ears and scrambled in her mind. "... Wake up..." The voice said again but Jenny could not piece the words together coherently, "... Wake up..."

With an inhaled gasp, Jenny's eyes flew open. The world around spun around in a purple haze making her feel nauseated. The ground under her was cold and hard making her body hurt even more so.

Jenny tried to blink her blurred vision away and noticed a large dark mass beside her shifting. She blinked again coming more into focus.

"Hi," Angelus said laying on his stomach watching her closely. "How are you feeling? I'm sorry the ground isn't too comfortable. I thought about putting a carpet down but..." Angelus trailed off scratching the top of his head. "Then I thought about a pillow. I mean, you can see my dilemma there, right? I didn't want to make you _too_ comfortable because where's the fun in that? You are a very good sleeper, Jenny. Not noisy at all..." Angelus shifted onto his side holding his head up with one hand and continued his ramble, "So how are you feeling? A little dizzy, a bit confused—I get that. I mean, I really do." Angelus meaningfully told her. "But all I want is to make my girl happy."

Jenny stared at the evil vampire with terrified confusion.

"And do you know what makes my girl the happiest, Jenny?" Angelus shifted again getting closer to the disoriented brunette, resting his chin on his fists. "Torturing a gypsy. I'm not sure where her hatred for gypsies is derived from—possibly memories of her Sire; He's part gypsy or something..." Angelus paused holding a finger over his lips stopping his babbling. "Forgive me, I have the tendency to ramble when I'm a little nervous. I know what you're thinking, 'Why, Angelus, why are so nervous?'" Angelus mimicked a woman's voice in the place of Jenny's. "It's just, _she_ doesn't know that you're here and her face when she finds out—well, it makes me nervous. Do you ever feel like that? I mean, does 'ole Rupes makes you feel like that? A little nervous?" Angelus rolled onto his back staring up at the ceiling. "Even after a hundred and forty years, Buffy still makes me nervous. She's just _so_ beautiful, it makes me all mushy inside." His features were hauntingly dark making Jenny shiver with fright.

The door of the wine cellar opened.

Angelus' eye did not move from Jenny's face. His face lit the louder the clacks of high-heeled shoes come closer to them.

"What do we have here?" Elizabeth said looking down at Jenny with a highbrow.

Angelus sat up immediately from the ground and grinned looking up at his lover. "I brought you a playmate, my love." Angelus got to his feet and moved around Elizabeth, wrapping his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I caught on to your not-so-subtle hints, Buffy. 'Gypsy this' and 'Gypsy that'." He mimicked her breathless voice. "Did you really think I wouldn't hear you? It's impossible not to."

Elizabeth stepped out of his arms to face him slightly offended, "I am _not_ that loud."

"It's not the volume of your voice, it's the incessant amount you do talk." He fired back.

Elizabeth glared at him, piercing her lips, "Well, _excuse me_ , Mr Tall-Dark-and-Brooding. I don't know if you hear me half the time because you have no expression on your face! What the hell are you broody about anyway? It's not like you have a conscious!"

Angelus rolled his eyes holding his hands to his hips. He looked down at Jenny watching the couple argue. "Can you believe this? I go out of my way to do something nice for her," Angelus bent down picking up Jenny's limp body and pressed against the stone wall. He handcuffed a chain around one wrist then the other. "And she argues with me because I don't talk _nearly_ as much as she does? Because I don't let the _entire_ _world_ what I'm thinking? And she _still_ hasn't said, 'Thank you, Angelus.'" He eyed his mate with irritation.

Releasing an unneeded breath, Elizabeth stepped forward and draped her wrists around Angelus' shoulders. "Thank you, Angelus. She's perfect."

Satisfied, Angelus dropped his annoyance act and smirked, "Anything for you, my Buffy." He rubbed his nose against hers.

Elizabeth stepped forward to stand in front of the gypsy computer teacher and looked her once over. "You are very pretty. Giles is a lucky man. But I wonder," Elizabeth tilted her head to the side thoughtfully, "will he still love you if you were disfigured?"

Angelus wrapped an arm around Elizabeth's chest handing her a scalpel.

The blonde vampire smiled never removing her eyes from Jenny's taking the scalpel into her hand. "Shh, this will only hurt for a minute, pet." Elizabeth stabbed the scalpel into Jenny's stomach. The scalpel was too short to do any real damage but it nevertheless hurt like hell. Jenny yelped in pain squeezing her eyes shut desperately trying to wake from the nightmare she was having.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

"Jenny's been taken," Giles said in a panic.

Faith stared at her Watcher with surprise while the rest of the room gasped.

"What? Why? By who?" Willow asked.

"Who do you think?" Faith turned her eyes from the redhead to Giles. She stood from the chair she sat at the table and went into the cage locker for weapons. "There is only one duo I can think of that is hellbent on making our lives a living hell."

"You mean, Buffy and Angelus took her?" Xander asked.

"Who else would?" Giles removed his glasses. "We need to get her back, immediately. I'm going with you, Faith." He went to the weapons locker picking up a sharp axe.

Faith opened her mouth to protest but Giles would have none of it.

"No, Faith, Jenny is my responsibility. I am going."

"Fine, but try not to get dead." Faith said hooking a crossbow around her body and a barrel of arrows. "You guys stay here. Beep the pager if something bad happens?"

Cordelia looked around with a fright, "If something bad happens? You mean like psycho Buffy and her crazy boyfriend come looking for us next?"

"That would qualify as 'something bad' happening," Oz said sitting in a chair beside Willow.

Faith and Giles used the back exit behind the book stacks to leave campus undetected by Principal Snyder.

 **Two Hours Later**

 **Crawford Mansion**

Jenny's screams bounced off of the stone walls but still, no one could hear her cries of agony. Angelus sat on his knees with a sharp needle. He carved decorative and elaborate gypsy designs on her stomach and chest tattooing her body.

Elizabeth sat in a wood chair behind Angelus balancing a _Cosmopolitan_ magazine on her knee. She flipped through the pages not really reading any of the articles. She skipped to the couples quiz on the last page of the magazine.

"Here's one," Elizabeth glanced up from the magazine to Angelus then continued on, "When it comes to sex positions, you: A. Change it up every night; The wilder, the better. B. Stick to the old favourites; There's nothing wrong with missionary. Or C. Sometimes changes it up but mostly stick with the classics." Elizabeth looked up at Angelus curiously.

Angelus drew his hand back examining his artistry, "Well, love, you should know the answer to that by now."

"Of course. What was I thinking?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'll just check off, 'A'. You're having sex with a man—" she looked up from the question hearing Angelus' jealous growl, "Not of that. It's just a question, Angel." She continued, "What are you thinking about? Well, there isn't much thinking." She checked off another answer. "Blah, blah, blah..." Elizabeth continued checking off the answers to the following questions until reaching the ultimate answer. "You got, 'A Master In The Bedroom'. Well, done, honey!" Elizabeth smiled up at him. "You've got great sex down: it's having confidence and being adventurous, and yadda, yadda, yadda..." Elizabeth dropped the magazine on the ground with a long sigh and stood from the chair.

Angelus sensed her approaching and stood to his feet. He placed the needle he's been militating Jenny's body with on a small table. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him and peered around his arm examining Angelus' work with a critical eye.

"So, what do you think?" He asked placing his hand over hers and brought it to his cool lips.

A small smile tugged at Elizabeth's lips. "You know how much I love to see your drawings. Breathtaking, my love." Without warning, Angelus grasped Elizabeth's wrists, spinning her into his arms and slammed her back up against the stone rigid wall, directly beside Jenny.

His mouth immediately found her the exposed skin of her cleavage. He drew his head back and tenderly touched her cheek, "I only aim to please you." He leant in closer, inches from her lips. "That's all I ever wanted to do," Angelus said as his hands slid down the sides of her body. Slowly, he lifted the hem of the dress up her thighs and reached inside to her centre.

Elizabeth's moaned with pleasure as his fingers slid in and out of her, manipulating her body. "I only ever wanted was to be pleased."

Angelus dipped his head down capturing her mouth in a violent, yet passionate kiss. Ignoring her sigh of disappointment when he removed his fingers from her centre, Angelus quickly unzipped the front of his leather pants and took out his standing cock.

Elizabeth broke the kiss, turning her chin to look at Jenny. She grinned at the bloody woman hanging on the wall. Elizabeth bit her bottom lip when Angelus entered her without warning. Her fingernails dug into hair, scraping his scalp.

Drawing his head back, Angelus vamped out. Elizabeth's hands slid from his hair and around his face. She felt the spark of their powerful bond heating between them as if they were living.

Pressing their foreheads together, Elizabeth and Angelus slowly shifted their heated gaze from one another to the tortured and battered woman hanging beside them. The last thing Jenny remembered seeing before her vision went black was their demonic faces wildly grinning at her as they climaxed together.


	15. Chapter 14

**Outside the Crawford Mansion**

"Whoa," Faith said stared up at the large Gothic mansion hidden between the forests and cemeteries in the small Hellmouth town. "Talk about a vampire castle."

Giles turned his eyes from the mansion to Faith. "Yes, well, Angelus and Elizabeth don't strike me as the pair to be living in a dingy crypt or an abandoned factory. Come on, I believe there is a way into the mansion from back here." Giles led Faith towards the back area. Luckily the sun was out so that meant no matter who's out there, no one will be leaving unless they want to commit suicide.

* * *

Faith was the first to enter into the mansion. It was dark though there were windows built high above that gave the mansion a bit of light. The sunlight was not enough to threaten the vampire occupants.

"I have a feeling where they're keeping Jenny there are chains involved." Faith whispered to her Watcher.

"Unfortunately, I believe that you are right. They probably keep their victims underground in a basement or cellar of some sort."

Faith nodded with agreement, "Great, now where do we find that—" Faith noticed a vampire servant coming down the hallway. She snatched her hand out from around the corner, grabbing the vampire by the front of its collar. "We need a tour guide."

 **Wine Cellar**

As the time passed since Jenny's arrival at the vampire mansion and to now, she didn't have the strength to scream in agonising pain anymore. It was all just too much. She could barely feel the knife stabbings or the sharp fangs piercing all over her body. The only thing she knew for sure was that these vampires certainly knew what they were doing. She had to give them their credit, Jenny had no idea there were as many extraordinary painful ways to almost die and come back to life again.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Elizabeth's voice was soothing to Jenny's ears. The vampiress had a mystical way of getting inside her victim's mind. How she did it was through malicious kindness.

"I know." Elizabeth gently dabbed a damp cloth wiping the blood from Jenny's face and collarbone where a bite mark wounded her skin. "You've been very brave, Ms Calendar, but I can make it all stop. I can make all this pain go away." Jenny's swollen black and red eyes partially opened. Her blurry disoriented vision tried to focus on Elizabeth's face. "But first, I need something from you. I've tasted your blood and it's powerful. It's just what my little girl needs. Jenny," Elizabeth's eyes searched the woman's beaten face, "can you help me?"

Jenny looked at Elizabeth for a long moment trying to find the strength to her to say something. But her soul was weak. She knew what was to happen to her when Elizabeth and Angelus grew tired of her. Just like all of the others, she's be put on display in a mangled, mutilated mess.

"Yes," Jenny finally said. Her voice was barely audible.

Elizabeth warmly smiled and ran her hand down Jenny's face. She leant forward and pressed her mouth against Jenny's in a tender, appreciative kiss. "Thank you."

Elizabeth abruptly spun around to Angelus standing behind her with his arms crossed and an amused expression dancing on his face. "She's ready."

Angelus nodded his head, "I'll go fetch Spike and Drusilla." He turned away from Elizabeth and headed out from the wine cellar.

A low and mocking laugh sounded behind Elizabeth. She turned to the laugh and raised a highbrow at Darla hanging on the wall in a worse condition than Jenny Calendar. Her skin from her neck to her toes was exposed. Her wounds gaped with no chance of healing. Her luscious blonde hair was now stringy and matted with dry blood. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, her once beautiful face is now disfigured with no hope of proper healing.

"What's so funny, Darla?" Elizabeth asked tilting her head to the side.

With a hoarse voice, Darla said, "You really think a gypsy will make your insane Childe all whole and healed again?" Darla laughed flashing blood stained teeth.

Elizabeth thought for a moment and folded her arms across her chest, "Do you have a better idea, then?"

"You're a fool, _Elizabeth_. There isn't much ever going on up there is there? All you were was just a pretty face and daft as anything..." Darla bitterly spatted. "You are so fucking stupid, even _Dracula_ tossed you aside." She laughed. "The gypsy won't do shit. It's your own fucking fault Drusilla is an insane twat!"

Elizabeth's face grew dark with anger. She growled. In a flash, Elizabeth stood in front of Darla prying her mouth open and pinched her forefinger and thumb around Darla's tongue. "One more word out of you and I will cut out your tongue and nail to your head." Elizabeth's green eyes flashed a golden hue as they bored into Darla's skull.

The vampiress visibly calmed still holding Darla's tongue. "Now, what do you say?"

Darla's front dwindled suddenly losing her edge and confidence to finally stand up to the master vampiress. She mumbled an inaudible response.

"Excuse me? What did you say?" Elizabeth asked her politely. She removed her hand from inside Darla's mouth and wiped the blood clean with a cloth.

"I'm sorry." Darla finally said panting from the pain from her maimed body.

Elizabeth smiled softly and pushed Darla's bloody blonde hair behind her ear, "That's a sweet girl."

The sound of a door opening turned Elizabeth attention. She breathed in deep noting that it was not Angelus nor her children entering the cellar. It was someone else, very familiar to her.

Elizabeth put a finger over lips silently ordering the victims chained to her wall to stay silent as she backed into the black shadows unseen by anyone.

By this time, Darla had passed outspent from the loss of energy from trying to tell Elizabeth off which of course backfired, as it always did. Thirty years imprisoned and tortured by the vampire couple, Darla knew she would never be free again. Her biggest regret was not following the mate's after they had killed the Master. But her jealousy over Elizabeth was too great, clouding any rational thought.

Jenny blinked incoherently. She had not one clue what was going on, which way was up or down. The only thing she understood was her pained numb body.

"In here," Faith said to Giles as they walked further into the wine cellar.

Giles turned his head and under a dim light, he saw Jenny hanging on a stone wall with her arms out wide. "Jenny," Giles rushed over to his love in a panic. He ran his eyes over her, she looked near death. "Oh, Jenny, you're all right now, I'm here, love... I'm here..."

Faith stood behind Giles and went to rip off the shackles to her wrists when a plank of wood smacked the back of her head. Faith stumbled forward catching herself against the wall. She spun around to see Elizabeth wearing her vampire face grinning back at her.

"I was wondering when you'd stop by for a spot of tea. I hope you didn't get too lost finding this place." Elizabeth said then smacked Faith with the plank of wood again and grabbed the Slayer by her hair throwing her across the cellar and into some wine barrels taking out a tray of torture instruments. Elizabeth glared at Giles, "Hey! Don't touch my gypsy!" She kicked the Watcher away.

Faith grabbed a scalpel and gritted her teeth, "Hey, Buffy!"

Elizabeth turned to the Slayer catching a hurling scalpel just before it stabbed her heart. "Not, bad." She hurled the scalpel back at the dark haired Vampire Slayer.

Faith caught off the scalpel in her shoulder and pulled it out with a yelp. Enraged she attacked the vampiress with full force. Elizabeth grabbed a knife from another tray of tools.

Elizabeth ducked under Faith swinging arm and punched her stomach. Faith retorts, kicking the vampire's legs out from under her. Elizabeth fell on her back but the Slayer's advantage does not last. Elizabeth kicked Faith away.

Meanwhile, Giles takes Jenny in his arms and carries her away. He searched the cellar and noticed a tunnel leading out to the sewers. It was his only way out unless he wanted to meet Angelus and the other vampires outside surely hearing the fight taken place.

"Giles, go!" Faith called out as she struggled to hold Elizabeth down on her back.

Giles ran out of the cellar with Jenny in his arms leaving Faith alone to fight were way out.

Elizabeth again kicked Faith off of her. Faith flew backwards, slamming her back against the stone wall near the tunnel exit. Faith gritted her teeth in pain and escaped out of the cellar.

The cellar doors flew open, Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, and the vampire henchmen all ran into the room.

Elizabeth got to her feet with Angelus' help. She glared at the henchman. "What the fuck are you waiting for? Go after them!" She ordered angrily.

The henchmen ran out of the cellar chasing after Faith, Giles, and Jenny.

"She took my fucking gypsy!" Elizabeth growled throwing a wine barrel into the wall infuriated. "I'm gonna _kill_ that _Slayer_!" She roared with a fury.

 **Sewer Tunnel**

Faith and Jenny in Giles' arms ran down a tunnel hearing a pair of vampire minions not far behind them. Faith looked up to the sewer's only way out. "Up here." She said climbing up first and reached out her hands to grab Jenny.

Giles was next climb out of the sewers and closed the lid just as the minions drew closer.

Giles took Jenny back into his arms again thankful that the sunlight protected them. He looked at Faith and nodded in a silent 'thank you.'

"Let's get out of here." Faith said.

 **Crawford Mansion**

Angelus followed Elizabeth into the main area of the mansion and watched as she threw objects at the wall in a fit of rage.

He stood silently letting her work out her tantrum. He too was angered. The only chance of curing his Childe with powerful blood was gone. The Slayer and her Watcher had broken into his home and attacked his mate. It made him more than enraged.

Elizabeth spun around facing a henchman standing in the background somewhat frightened by the master vampire's tirade. "Get me the Judge." The vampiress demanded.

"Buffy," Angelus began,

"—No, I'm ending this tonight. That Slayer and her Scooby Doo pals have pissed me off for the last time. Come sundown, I'm killing them all." She angrily gritted her teeth.

Angelus titled his head to the side. A low and devilish smirk twitched in the corner of his mouth. "Your wish is my command." He said stepping towards her and stopped when he was in front of her. "Until then," he reached out and gently ran his fingers down her beautiful face instantly putting her at ease, "you need to rest."

Elizabeth released an unneeded breath and nodded her head pressing her body against his. "Fine." She darkly smiles as he bent his head down to capture her mouth.


	16. Chapter 15

**Crawford Mansion**

Elizabeth could smell the daylight. It smelled like flowers and nature. She could smell the nighttime as well.

She released a heavy unneeded breath staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. It was a rarity for Elizabeth to ever feel a bit of restlessness after passionate and animalistic sex with her lover.

She counted the seconds to the next minute feeling the daytime drag on. Elizabeth turned her head from the ceiling to the man sound asleep beside her. He laid on his stomach and his handsome face buried in his pillow. Elizabeth took her time to admire, Angelus' beautiful features. She moved her hand gently tracing his features carefully, starting from the bridge of his nose and ending at his lips.

Elizabeth didn't care if it was impossible but she loved this man. With all of her dead heart, she did. There was not one doubt about that. He was a perfect compliment to her. Elizabeth found his sadistic psychotic tendencies remarkably breathtaking.

Elizabeth frowned and sat up uncaring of her nudity. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and carefully got out without disturbing Angelus. She moved cross the bedroom for the long black silk robe draped over the vanity mirror.

She tied the robe belt tightly around her slim waist and headed out of the bedroom quietly opening and closing the door behind her.

* * *

Elizabeth walked gracefully across the large mansion with the long robe blowing the in wind behind her exposing her naked legs.

She stopped standing in the main area of the mansion getting the attention of vampire henchmen standing at attention when she entered. Elizabeth paid them no mind and turned her head to the gardens outside the mansion.

"Disappear." Elizabeth ordered as she crossed the main area to the gardens.

She stepped out into the gardens and ran her fingers over the blooming flowers. Even in the daylight, she could enjoy the beauty of the flowers. There was enough shade from the suns overcast to make it possible to sit down on the marble bench in the middle of the beautiful garden during the brightest hours of the day.

The scent that filled her senses was fresh and overwhelmingly beautiful, it soothed Elizabeth's uneasiness.

A white misty cloud rolled in feathery waves across the mansion floor and stopped at the entrance of the garden. The misty cloud morphed slowly into a figure.

Without ever turning around, Elizabeth knew who was behind her. She opened her eyes and softly smiled, "Hello, Vlad."

Dracula reached out his hand and ran his fingers through the back of Elizabeth's long blonde hair. He stood closely behind her reeling in her intoxicating familiar scent of her skin. "You are magnificent." His dark eyes studied the strands of blonde hair around his fingers.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Elizabeth turned her head to look up at him.

Dracula stared down at her and sat down on the bench close enough to feel the coolness of her body. "Of course I would find you. You are my Childe - my lover..." His velvet voice whispered into Elizabeth's ear. He brushed his long pale fingers over the scare decorating her neck.

Elizabeth looked a him from under her lashes, "I am not your lover anymore, Vlad. I haven't been for centuries. We're over. We are _so_ over." She said.

Dracula smirked with amusement not buying her resistance for an instant, "We will never be over, dragul meu." He brushed his lips over her scar.

Elizabeth's breath hitched feeling a shiver down her spine when he kissed the most sensitive spot of her body. She removed herself from him and stood. She recognised the expression in his eyes, they were filled of desire.

"This century has been good to you." Dracula said running his eyes up and down her beautiful frame.

"You seem to be a stuck in the 16th Century. You should think about a wardrobe update." Elizabeth sarcastically said.

Dracula stood and moved around the bench, "You talk like one of them."

"Like one of who?"

"An American. You've adapted yourself."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes never understanding why it was such a big deal that she and Angelus dropped their accents in order to blend in.

She turned to a watering pail and picked it up. Dracula watched as she watered the beautiful potted flowers around her.

"I did what I had to do in order to be the best." Elizabeth said watering plant to plant. "Perhaps you should be paying a bit more attention to us. You could learn a thing or two." Elizabeth snidely said smirking to herself catching the hard glare on Dracula's handsome face.

"Ah, yes, the _boy_ that you keep in your bed. I thought you'd be bored of him by now, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth stood straight and looked at her Sire with amusement. "Not even a little bit. He's my mate after all or did you forget - again. Experiencing memory loss in your old age? Well, let me remind you. I am forever bound to Angelus. He is all I want - all I need for the rest of eternity."

Dracula ran his eyes over Elizabeth's beautiful face with a slight smile dancing across his mouth. "You've kept your sense of humour. An amiable quality no doubt."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes setting the watering pail down. Of course and not much to her surprise, Dracula did not hear a word that she said. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "It was foolish for you to have come here. Angelus will kill you if he sees you."

"I imagine he would make a tremendous effort in my demise. But he will fail."

"Over confident much?"

Dracula stepped forward still a distance away from her, "No, I know you, Pulchra Creatura, and you would never let him lay a finger on me."

"Do not make the mistake by overestimating my loyalties to you, Vlad." Her green eyes were hard and hateful.

"There is no overestimating, Elizabeth. I know you better than anyone, especially that worthless fool you took as your mate. There is much more to you than black death. Your dead heart is open and you never forget who you _love_. I've never met a demon who loves as well as you." Dracula reached out a gentle hand and caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Do not resist me."

Elizabeth turned her eyes up to his face, "I'm not resisting you. I simply feel nothing for you. You are nothing to me, Vlad. Your touch makes me sick." She stepped back away from him. "You're beneath me."

Dracula's penetrating eyes glazed over with darkness. In a flash he pinned Elizabeth back against the wall with his body and a hand clenched around her neck forcing her still. "Look at me." He ordered calmly. Elizabeth refused and struggled to break free from him. "Look. At. _Me_ , Elizabeth." He ordered her again this time with a frightening firmness.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and finally turned her eyes to his face.

"Why do you lie to yourself? You are a beautiful and intelligent woman, and yet..." With his free hand he pushed long blonde strands of hair behind her ear. "Let yourself feel our love..." He slowly dipped his head down and brushed his lips against hers.

There was no turning back. Elizabeth let her guard down just for a millisecond when his lips touched hers. But she almost instantly began to struggle against him again to break free from his kiss. It was all wrong. The lips kissing her were not of her lovers. They tasted different; they were not spicy with hints of copper. The softness was off as well. When they touched her lips, she did not feel warm all over. The lips touching her felt like the pair she had forgotten lifetimes ago. It was all wrong.

Elizabeth tore her face away from his turning her head as he gripped a hand around her jaw forcing her to look at him again. "No! Stop it!" She yelled at him with angry desperation. "Stop!"

"You love me, young Elizabeth." He said and easily trapped her again by crushing his mouth against hers in a forceful and violent kiss.

Elizabeth strained against him as his tongue jabbed its way into her mouth. Dracula hears none of her cries as he breaks open her silk robe exposing her naked body to him. His long fingers squeezed around her breast as other untied the belt around her waist.

"You have much to learn, porumbel." With his free hand, Dracula unbuckled his trousers and reached inside for his throbbing member.

Elizabeth tried with all of her might to push him off of her but he was too strong.

"For instance," Dracula continued, "never reject your Sire." He picked up her leg wrapping it around his waist. "You feel it... our love. Whenever I was inside of you..." He pushed himself into with a painful thrust. Dracula then threaded his fingers into her hair and yanked her head to the side exposing the scared mark on her neck to him. He dipped his head down biting in to the mark that adorned her neck.

Elizabeth gasped horrified and in pain. She found her strength against her struggled and shoved him off of her. Ripping his teeth from her neck. Dracula flew back slamming against the stone wall knocking into some ceramic pots.

Reclaiming her power, Elizabeth wrapped her robe around her sore and violated body trembling with rage and fear. She ignored the shooting pain in her neck and blood spilling from her wound. "Ask me again why I could never love you." She said through gritted teeth.

Dracula looked up at her realising what he had just done. "Elizabeth..."

Elizabeth moved around the garden keeping the robe covering her body. "Get out." Her voice was low and infuriated. She exited the gardens ignoring her Sire's pleas of forgiveness. She did not look anywhere but ahead as she made her way back to the master bedroom and to Angelus.

* * *

When Elizabeth arrived back in the master bedroom, Angelus sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on a black pair of pants.

He looked up at her and dreamily smiled. Even in the darkness, he could see her beauty and it made him smile. "Hey, I was beginning to wonder where you went off to. The gardens again?" He asked standing from the bed buttoning the front of his pants.

Elizabeth stepped under the dim candle light. Angelus' eyes widened, horrified and panicked. He went to her and cupped her face into his hands. "What happened?" He searched her beautiful face for any further injuries and noted that her hands tightly held the front of her robe closed. "Buffy, what happened?"

"Vlad... was here..." She said straining to keep her tears back but it was useless. All of what had just occurred came crashing down on her over her. She buried her face into his chest wanting the safety of his strong arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly as she sobbed.

Angelus kissed the top of her head though inside the infuriating rage was to it's breaking point. He drew his head back and looked down at her and noticing punctured wounds over his mark on her neck. If it were even more so possible, Angelus saw red.

"He tasted you." He whispered no really a question.

"I tired... so hard to-to push him away... but h-he was strong... I don't-I don't understand..."

Angelus hugged her again running his hand through her hair. "Shh, I'm here now. I'm here. Let's sit and you tell me everything." He told her gently taking her hand leading her to the bed.

Elizabeth gasped from her sore body. Angelus slightly moved the robe to expose her thighs and hips to him. Red fingerprints still imprinted her skin from when Dracula forced himself onto her.

"He's been inside you." Angelus slowly turned his eyes from her bruises to her face. "I will kill that motherfucker. You are _mine_ , Buffy. He will never hurt you again." Angelus vowed straining not to tear the room apart.

Another tear slipped from Elizabeth's eye as she leaned forward resting her forehead against his. Angelus cupped his hands around the back of her neck breathing in her scent and feeling her demonic love.

"Your _mine."_ Angelus whispered.


	17. Chapter 16

**Two Days Later**

 **Crawford Mansion**

 **Library**

The tension in the room was thick. Elizabeth sat in a large red velvet chair watching Angelus tend to the fireplace. Nothing has been right since Dracula's unexpected appearance two days ago. Angelus had every vampire and demon scouring across the Hellmouth town for the Dark Prince. This halted any further plans they made regarding the Slayer and her friends.

For two days, Angelus had hardly looked in Elizabeth's direction. He never spent more than a minute in the same room with her. She had no idea where he slept, or if he slept at all. When she questioned him about it, he denied that anything was wrong. He then kissed her forehead and disappeared without another word. It seemed virtually impossible to find a moment alone with her mate as Angelus surrounded himself with lackey's and strategists all on the search for Dracula.

Elizabeth followed him into the library and sat down waiting patiently as he stood at the large fireplace tending to the logs. He poked the burning wood with a black iron poker then set it aside to face her.

Elizabeth wasn't blind, she knew how angry Angelus really was, though he used his best efforts to deny everything to her. She knew him well, too well in fact that she knew deep inside he blamed her. He blamed her for everything.

"You're angry," Elizabeth said breaking the silence between them.

Angelus' teeth were clenched and his fists were stuffed into his pockets. "I'm very angry." His eyes reached her face, "But not at you." He quickly added.

Elizabeth raised a brow and tilted her head to the side watching him carefully. "Bull." She bravely called him out. "Don't lie to me it doesn't look good on you." She snidely said glaring up at him from under lashes.

Angelus took a deep unneeded breath shooting death stare daggers at her, "My anger is not directed at you but at your Sire, _Elizabeth_." His words were terse as if he was desperately trying to keep his unforgiving temper in check.

She let out a mocking laugh, "You never been a good liar, _Liam_. Don't try now."

Angelus' eyes widened with surprise. She had only ever said his given name once. It was lifetimes ago when Angelus told her about his human life. He remembered that day because she was laying in his arms with her head over his chest completely content. He remembered thinking how beautiful the breathless way she said his given name sounded from her lips. It was the only time she had ever said it.

He fumed until he had reached his boiling point, " _Fine_. I'm pissed! _His hands were all over you! He tasted you!_ " Angelus yelled infuriated. " _You let him touch you! I should've killed that bastard a hundred and forty fuckin' years ago! But you refused! Now, look what's happened! He's violated you! He touched what is mine!"_ Angelus roared.

Elizabeth sat quietly, listening to all that he had to say without interruption.

* * *

Outside the library, Drusilla had her body pressed up against the door, hugging it as she cried listening to her Sire's argue.

William gently ran his hands down Drusilla's arms prying her away from the door and into his arms. The dark vampiress laid her head on William's chest crying helplessly.

"I hate it when Daddy and Mother Angel fight." She said through her tears.

William ran a hand over Drusilla's dark hair and said, "Oh, they'll be fine. They've been together for nearly bloody ever." He drew her head back off of his chest to look at her. "They'll be just fine, luv."

"I can see the Dark Prince prancing along on his white horse." Her black eyes turned to William's face. "His head is full of Mummy. Dancing like a fairy... Daddy must kill him and stop him from tearing our happiness apart."

"It's highly unlikely Drac will tear anything apart. Lizzie and Angel are nauseously mad for each other. Dracula is going to be blowin' in the wind, once Angelus is through with 'im." William's confidence seemed to calm Drusilla.

* * *

Standing face to face, Angelus glaring at his beautiful mate. Imaginary steam blew from his ears. If he had colour, his face would've been bright red and veins popping out from his forehead.

He stood over Elizabeth showing his towering height. Even in a dreadful situation like this to his amazement, Elizabeth did not seem an ounce intimidate by him. He ran his eyes over her for a moment and sneered with disgust wanting to wipe the self-righteous look on her face. "I was a fool to think you were any different." Elizabeth's angry glare relented as she took in his words. "I know the stench of a _whore_." He growled.

Elizabeth looked at him taken back and hurt by his cruel words. "You are an unimaginable bastard." She stared at him with disbelief. "You think I wanted this? Any of this?" She asked him feeling her anger rise through her body. "You think I wanted _him_?" Elizabeth could have cried just at the mere thought of Dracula inside her again. "You are the _only man_ _I have ever loved_! I chose _you_! What more do you want from me?" The hurt inside of her was foreign and agonising, "I've given you everything that I have—everything I am! An eternity of my heart and my body! If I had my soul, I would have given that to you too!" Her eyes welled with unshed tears. "You are the only thing I have ever wanted!" Angelus desperately wanted to brush the fallen tear trickling down her cheek. "I love you. — I love you so much. You have to know that. I don't know how else to show you."

Angelus swallowed. His hard expression softened though he remained darkly serious, "I will not rest until Dracula is a pile of dust." He vowed.

Elizabeth nodded her head silently and stood from the couch standing in front of him. She reached out her hand and ran it along with his clean-shaven cheek. Angelus leant into her touch and wrapped his long fingers around the hand against his skin. He brought it to his lips and kissed the Claddagh ring that sat on her left ring finger for the past century.

"Kill him, my love."


	18. Chapter 17

**Days Later**

 **Crawford Mansion**

Angelus stood at the front of a long table staring a group of demons and vampires he had specifically tasked with finding Dracula.

They stood before him looking guilty realising the fate that was soon to come.

"So you haven't found him yet?" Angelus calmly asked.

"No, Master, we haven't. His magic is too strong for us to track down." A vampire quivered as he spoke up in front of the inferior Master Vampire.

Angelus held out his hand for a servant to place a sharp silver sword into his hand. He whipped the sword, decapitating the vampire who had just spoken. The vampire tumbled to the ground as a pile of dust. The other vampires and demons in front of him gasped fearfully for their lives.

Angelus held out the sword for the servant to take. "Let's try this again, shall we?"

The room was silent choking with fear.

* * *

Angelus closed the door behind him entering the master bedroom. He looked up to see Elizabeth standing at the window looking out to the rising morning sun.

Angelus sat down on the edge of the bed with his back facing her. He released an exhausted breath. Nothing was getting done and his patience for results was wearing thin. He spent most of his time punishing the incompetent demons around him.

"Any luck today?" Elizabeth said without turning around. She hugged her arms around her slim body fascinated by the warm orange, red, and yellow colours blooming in the sky.

"No, I'm surrounded by inept fools."

There was still a bit of tension between them though their relationship had been better than a few days ago the evening of their hateful argument.

But now, every time he looked at her, Elizabeth could see a flash of betrayal in his eyes. He hasn't lain with her in a week. It was the longest they've ever gone without each other in one hundred and forty years. She missed him more than she can put into words.

"It's his magic," Elizabeth said, removing herself from the window and drew the curtains as the morning sun brightened the sky. She faced him and let her eyes linger on his back. "He uses some spell to cover his tracks. Unless you're as powerful as he, it virtually impossible to detect him."

"You couldn't have let me in on that piece of information, oh say, yesterday?" He sniped bitterly over his shoulder without looking at her.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "I did. _You_ chose not to listen."

Angelus could not argue with that. He vaguely remembered her mentioning something like that a few days before when he first began his hunt. "How do you suppose I find him now? Do you know any powerful witches or warlocks on hand?"

Elizabeth fell silent in thought.

Angelus could hear the wheels in her mind ticking. He turned his head and raised a sceptical brow. "No." He said shaking his head knowing exactly where her thoughts had led to.

"It's our only option, Angel."

"No, we'll find another way."

Elizabeth moved around the large bed taking a seat beside him. Mindlessly, she placed her hand on his knee. "Admit it or not, but you know it's our only hope in finding Vlad. You want him dead? So do I. I want him out. I want him out of this town, I want him off this planet." Angelus looked down at her hand and smoothed his fingers over her soft skin. He marvelled over the size of her hand. It was small and thin. Just looking at her fingers, no one would suspect how lethally powerful her hands actually were. "Angel," Angelus lifted his eyes to her face, "we need this."

Angelus thought for a moment then silently nodded his head in agreement. "You are the only one that makes me this crazy." Elizabeth released a weak laugh and nodded in agreement. Angelus let a faint smirk tug at his lips, "Good. I'm glad we finally agree on something."

She ran her hand over his cheek. Relishing the feel of her cool fingers touching him, Angelus turned his head to her closing his eyes. Her fingers traced over his bottom lip, "Kiss me, my Angel." She whispered.

Angelus leant forward, closing the small space between them and captured her lips in a slow and tender kiss.

Elizabeth threaded her fingers through his short hair and opened her mouth wider, inviting the entrance of his tongue. Angelus wrapped his hand around her back pressing her against him. Elizabeth hooked her arms around his neck and shifted to straddle his lap.

Something inside Angelus snapped, everything in his body yearned for her. He had missed her lips touching his and her cool petite body surrounding him. He rolled her from his lap and laid her onto her back. His mouth broke away from hers and trailed down an invisible pathway down her neck and over her collarbone. He drew the hem of her blouse up to her body until it was off of her entirely. Elizabeth circled her arms around his neck keeping him close, needing his cold soft lips kissing her skin. She needed his touch. More than anything, Elizabeth needed him inside her.

Impatiently, Elizabeth ripped the buttons of his black silk shirt and pushed it off of his shoulders and down his back. Her fingers smoothed over his muscular chest to his abs until reaching their destination at the buttons of his leather pants.

Her hand disappeared inside of his pants. Angelus gasped against her mouth as she pulled out his erect cock. She stroked her hand down his shaft when Angelus grabbed her wrist of the hand that was fondling him and the other that was around his neck. He held her wrists together over her head.

Angelus lifted his head, hovering over her face. His eyes were glazed over with darkness mixed with desperate desire. The stench of arousal perfumed the bedroom. He growled and his handsome face morphed into his demonic one. Elizabeth arched her back, pressing her centre against him and turned her head to the side exposing her wounded neck.

Angelus' yellow eyes slowly moved from her beautiful face to her neck, enticing his animalistic desires. He snarled flashing his sharp fangs and lowered his head opening his mouth. He bit into the healing punctured wounds. Elizabeth gasped at the slight pain of his bite. She could not break her trapped wrists away from under his hand. More than anything she wanted to touch him, feel him as he claimed her as his own again. Angelus erased any trace of Dracula from his mate.

With his free hand, he opened her trousers and felt his way to her centre. Elizabeth moved against his hand. The sensation of his claim and his fingers inside her electrified all of her senses.

Finally, escaping from his tight grasp, Elizabeth gripped his brown hair, holding his mouth against her neck, wanting him to suck the life out of her. She panted feeling the rush from her centre making her warm and pleasured, " _Angelus_..."


	19. Chapter 18

**Giles' Apartment**

Giles sat on the edge of the bed holding a damp cloth. It's been over a week since he and Faith had rescued Jenny from the Crawford Mansion.

Everyday, he sat at Jenny's bedside holding her hand and giving her whatever she needed. Her injuries were severe, some with never heal properly and other are engraved into her skin for the rest of her life as a permeant reminder of the torture that had been done to her.

It made Giles sick to his stomach just thinking of the evil that has been done to his love in only a few short hours she was trapped there. How worse it could have been, if he and Faith hadn't shown up when they did.

Downstairs, Faith sat in the living room. She had been coming back his home everyday since Jenny's abduction just in case Elizabeth or Angelus made another surprise visit.

It raised major suspicion over the last few days when neither of the infamous vampires had surfaced. Silence in a Hellmouth town usual meant something horrible was going to happen and very soon.

Giles walked down the stairs to see Faith sitting on the couch with a hand inside a box of potato chips. Her boots were kicked up on top of the coffee table and a stake at next to her.

"How was patrol?" Giles asked.

Faith turned her head to the Watcher, "Five by five. No sign of Buffy or Angelus."

"Again? This is the eighth night in a row."

"There's something shady going on, Jeeves. I feel like the Hellmouth is going to uproar on us."

Giles sat down beside Faith and removed his glasses from his nose. "I fear you may be right." He dipped his hand into the potato chip bag.

A knock sounded at the door.

Faith and Giles turned their heads to the wooden door then cautiously stood grabbing stakes and a crossbow that was near them.

Faith nodded her head silently and went to the door opening it.

Neither of them expected to see their visitors standing on the front doorstep. Their surprise was extremely evident on their faces.

"We have a proposition for you." Angelus said with a cocky smirk.

Giles drew back the trigger of the crossbow aiming it at Angelus' dead heart.

"Why would we listen to you?" Faith asked gritting her teeth with hatred for the vampires.

Elizabeth released an unneeded breath already bored of the verbal battle between themselves and the 'White Hats'. "Because we need your help."

Giles started to laugh, "So sorry, I thought you said, you needed our help."

"I think it's time that we've had a chat," Elizabeth said waiting patiently for the Watcher's response.

"We don't converse with psychotic vampires like you. No, we kill you." Faith sneered.

Angelus fought the urge to roll his eyes, "How is our Jenny?"

"I could kill you for what you've done to her!" Giles said angrily.

"You could," Elizabeth folded her arms over her chest unintimidated, "or, you could hear what have to say. And believe me, it will interest you."

Faith laughed bitterly, "Like we care."

Giles was silent for a long moment staring at the blonde vampiress trying to see through her lies. There was no sign of trickery behind her eyes. She was serious which only intrigued his curiosity more so. "Fine."

"Giles?" Faith looked at Giles seeing him contemplating a decision. "What? No. They're evil! No!"

Giles lowered the crossbow towards the ground. "We'll hear what you have to say but not here. Tomorrow at sundown, meet us at the library."

Angelus glanced down at Elizabeth then back at Giles and smirked darkly, "It's a date."

 **Next Afternoon**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

The Scooby gang sat in around the long table staring up at Giles with disbelief.

Xander shook his head running a hand over his face, "You didn't say you would help them, did you?"

Giles fell silent.

"Oh, god, we're doomed!" Xander panicked slouching back in his chair.

Giles removed his glasses and rubbed them clean with his handkerchief, "They will be here at sundown giving us plenty of time to prepare with weapons."

"Great, at least we have three hours to enjoy what we've got left until we're all dead." Xander scoffed angrily pacing back and forth.

* * *

A vampire lackey opened the basement access door as Angelus and Elizabeth walked up the stairs and into the active hallway.

Students moving down the hall towards their next class stopped and stared in awe at the beautiful and powerful couple. They stepped aside and watched the vampires.

Angelus held out his arm for Elizabeth to take. Elizabeth wrapped her hand around his elbow letting him lead her down the hallway towards the library.

* * *

Angelus raised her hand that was on his elbow. He brought her hand to his lips before opening the door for her to enter.

Elizabeth softly smiled at him and entered the library first and Angelus was soon to follow.

The gang jumped to their feet staring at the vampire mates with surprise.

"Sorry, we couldn't wait." Angelus smiled.

Elizabeth moved around her lover standing in front of him moving closer to the table. "We are on a very tight schedule."

"What do you want?" Giles asked tensely.

Faith raised a crossbow aimed at Elizabeth's heart ready to fire. "This better be good."

Elizabeth glanced back at Angelus. He nodded his head and said, "Dracula is back in town. My objective is to find him. Torture him. And kill him."

"And why would we help you?" Giles asked firmly.

"If you help us, we won't kill you." Angelus said and turned his eyes to Faith's face. "Any of you."

"Try not killing _anyone_ for that matter then we can sit down and chat." Faith spatted with revulsion.

Elizabeth raised a brow, "Don't push your luck, Faith-y."

"Destroy the Judge." Giles said watching a bit of apprehension cross the couple's face. "Those are our conditions; Our lives and the Judge's destruction."

Angelus looked back at Elizabeth and slowly moved around her never letting his eyes veer from hers. Their conversation was silent.

Angelus lifted his eyes to the Watcher's and smirked, "Your terms are acceptable."

"Good. Now that is squared away, why are you hunting the Count?" Giles asked.

"He's _violated_ what is _mine_." Angelus' anger was evident in his voice glaring at the Watcher as he spoke.

All eyes turned to Elizabeth with shock. The vampiress used her best efforts to hide the guilt from her expression. Though things had been better between herself and Angelus, Dracula's shadow loomed over their heads taunting them, halting any momentum of moving forward from the horrible event.

"His magic's are too strong." Angelus continued. "I've had terrible trouble searching for him. Buffy brought it to my attention that, you," he looked at Giles, "and you, Red," Willow picked up her head surprised by Angelus' acknowledgement, "as well as the gypsy are powerful. Combined, you could find that fucker and I can kill him." He thought for a moment and smirked shifting his attention to the Watcher. "How is our little gypsy?"

"Angel," Elizabeth said his name with a firm warning. "Taunting them will not help us."

A growl rose in Angelus' throat but it soon died realising that she certainly right about that.

Giles pushed on his glasses, "Well, we can certainly try—"

"—Trying is not enough." Angelus' expression darkened slowly becoming enraged, "I want him _found now_!" He roared.

"Yes, well, in order for us to do that," Giles eyed the vampire carefully pretending to be unintimidated, "we'll need to know everything about him. Buffy, you are our best source that we have. Since you've spent the _most_ time with him. Is there anything at all, perhaps when you decided to leave him that may have triggered his... obsession with you?"

Elizabeth smirked somehow amused by the reasonable question. "His obsession with me had begun long before I left him." She looked at Angelus. He nodded his head in silent approval to continue the story. He leaned back on the long counter interested in what she had to say. He had never heard this piece of her past. She rarely ever talked about the Prince of Wallachia. And Angelus never dared to talk bring it up finding it just unbearable to hear about her century with another man.

"The year was 1848, I was in Rome living in luxury. Vlad had sensed my withdrawal sometime before —years before actually, but he never confronted me. Which was for the best. I would've been unresponsive and distracted. My thoughts were with another." Elizabeth's eyes shifted to Angelus' face.

 **(149 Years Ago)**

 **Rome, Italy 1848**

Alone in the large, spacious bedroom after a long and joyous evening at a ball, Dracula and Elizabeth found solitude in the lavish castle they called home for the past forty years.

Elizabeth enjoyed the Italians, they were so vibrant with life and the wine they produced was stupendous.

Dracula appeared behind her and pushed her hair from her shoulder. His lips nipped her neck.

His kisses sent a cool shiver down her spine. Elizabeth laid her head back against his chest, holding a hand to the back of his head, keeping his mouth over her neck as he manipulated it with his mouth. Her fingers buried into his long black locks as her chin tilted upwards to him. She ran her tongue over his lips, tasting his copper flavoured lips. Dracula's hands slid across her stomach drawing her back closer into his body. He touched her cheek lost in the depths of her green eyes. He leant forward pressing his mouth against her lips in a tender kiss which quickly heated and became uncontrollable.

His hands smoothed up her bare golden arms to her shoulders. He peeled off the sleeves of her gown and untied the strings holding it together.

Elizabeth let the gown pool around her ankles then took a step, removing herself from his embrace. She crawled onto the bed enticing him with her bottom. She tossed him a 'come hither' smile over her shoulder. Dracula licked his lips watching as she sat in front of him, spreading her legs. He drew the hem of her underdress up her thighs. A dark smile danced across her heart-shaped mouth.

Dracula then untied the cravat around his neck and unbuttoned each button of the dark red blouse shirt he wore. His fingers unzipped his trousers freeing his cock. He went down to his knees before her.

Starting at her ankles, Dracula worked his way up her beautiful body, worshipping her skin with feathering kisses.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and let his mouth send cool sensations around her body. As he drew nearer to the destination of her mouth, Elizabeth opened her eyes and saw the dark brown eyes she had been imagining for the last fifty-six years. She stared up at his face running her hand down his smooth shaven cheek and threaded it into his long brown hair. Her eyes darted around his face with wonderment. In her mind, she was with _him_.

Dracula knew his lover was not seeing him. He had a very good idea who she was imagining in his place. It's something he had become accustomed to now. It was selfish of him and he knew that but Dracula would rather have her imagine another than not have her at all. She was his entire world.

 **Weeks Later**

After a long evening of dining with noblemen and hunting for supper, Dracula entered the castle to see Elizabeth sitting on a step at the foot of the long staircase waiting for his return patiently.

His eyes searched her beautiful face. It did not hold any emotion. _This is it_. He told himself preparing for this exact moment.

"Did you enjoy your evening?" She asked, trying to make small talk. For the past five decades it had become harder and harder to talk to her Sire, more so than it's ever been before.

"You are leaving me," he said much to Elizabeth's surprise. "You are leaving me for _him_. Don't assume I haven't noticed your distance toward me. I have for a long while now."

"Then why not confront me sooner?" Elizabeth stood from the stair.

Dracula smiled sadly, "It was better than the alternative of not having you at all. I intended to keep you by my side for as long as possible."

Elizabeth raised a skeptical brow, "You tortured yourself for _years_ to stay with me?"

"Of course, I did. I could not let you go, trandafirul meu _(my rose)_. It was selfish of me, I know. You are so young, Iubirea mea _(my love)_. Of course, you would want to venture out and discover yourself. You must realise what it is in you that makes you so majestically glorious." He whispered staring at her with wondrous amazement despite the heartbreak that ripped at his dead heart.

Dracula stepped forward cupping his hand around her cheek. "I already know. Frome the moment my eyes beheld you, I've seen it. I also realise, in order to do that, it means spending your time away from me. Perhaps with other —" he the sentence died on his lips, unable to finish it. "I understand. I want you to have this so your power can grow."

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side taken back by his generosity. She had prepared herself for a battle to leave his tight restraining grasp. She was more than surprised by his chivalrous reaction.

She lifted her chin up and brushed her lips over his in a small and tender kiss. "Thank you," Elizabeth whispered memorizing the colour of his hypnotising blue eyes as they stared down at her.

She then pulled herself away from him and moved towards the large wooden door.

A servant opened it for her and led the way to the stagecoach waiting outside under the night sky for her. The servant held out his hand for her to take when Dracula's soothing voice entered her ears.

"Întoarce-te la mine, Elizabeth. _(Come back to me, my Elizabeth.)"_ Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder to him standing at the entrance of the door."Voi aștepta o veșnicie pentru tine. _(I will wait an eternity for you.)_ "

For a moment longer, Elizabeth ran her eyes over him then abruptly turned away taking the servant's extended hand helping her into the stagecoach. The servant closed the door and stepped aside nodding to the driver.

Dracula stood at the front step watching the horse carriage drive off disappearing into the darkness of the night. He told himself repeatedly that she would be back.

 _She will be back_.


	20. Chapter 19

**Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

"You never went back to him?" Willow looked at Elizabeth captivated by her story.

Elizabeth shrugged nonchalantly, "No, I did not. I never planned to either. What I had with Vlad was... well, it suited my needs at the time. But I was never going to be _his_. I was never going to be anyone's." Her eyes glanced in Angelus' direction with a smirk. "Vlad had always known this but refuses to accept it. He still thinks I'm 'finding myself'." Elizabeth rolled her eyes moving from the library to the long table and sat in a chair beside Cordelia, who quickly shot up to her feet and fled to Xander standing on the opposite side of the blonde vampiress.

Giles opened a Watcher's Diary regarding the Count's long existence. "Despite your... disregard for the Count, he was important to you?

Elizabeth's expression brightened, "He taught me everything when I was first changed. I was still a bit shy of course... still unsure of how to use my new demonic 'assets' to their greatest capacity. It wasn't until I went to this wonderful art museum in Belgium. That's when I found my calling. That trip gave me a whole new outlook on life."

 **(286 Years Ago)**

 **Antwerp, Belgium 1711**

 **Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen _(Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp)_**

Standing off to the side staring at a modest size painting, Elizabeth could not take her eyes off of it. It was beautiful.

It was a beautiful woman with light red hair and dark dead eyes. She held a knife in her right hand slicing through the neck of her victim. An old beggar looking, woman, stood behind the beautiful murderous holding a piece of canvas ready to catch the decapitated head.

"It is glorious isn't it?" Dracula said standing beside Elizabeth looking tall and confident.

"It is," Elizabeth answered mesmerised by the painting. She listened carefully as it spoke to her.

Dracula turned his eyes downward taken by the fascination in her eyes. "This painting is by an Italian named, Caravaggio in 1598. It is called, _'_ _Judith Beheading Holofernes'_. The story is, Judith was a beautiful and wealthy widow. She was a devoted woman to the Bible. Judith represents cunning power and courage for the Israelites. She uses her most... amiable qualities to defeat Holofernes. First with wine, then her sexuality," Dracula whispered softly into Elizabeth's ear as his fingers brushed over her cleavage, "and finally, her blade."

"I especially enjoy the way the artist captured Holofernes' horror and pain as he is being beheaded. Makes the piece so much more... _moving_." Elizabeth said licking her lips hungrily.

She tore her eyes from the painting to Dracula's face. A small smile danced across her mouth and noticed a handsome young man standing with a woman on his arm looking up at the painting on the wall. The young man slowly moved his attentions from his companion to Elizabeth standing across the museum with Dracula beside her softly smiling with pride.

"Go, play, porumbelul meu," Dracula said into her ear eyeing the attractive woman standing with the young man.

 **Belgium Castle**

 **Bedroom**

Elizabeth stood between the handsome young man from the museum's legs as he sat on the edge of the bed running his hands lustfully around her naked body.

She smiled as his mouth moved lower down her stomach to her pelvis. "Alles op zijn tijd, liefde, _(All in good time, love,)_ " Elizabeth said gently in perfect Dutch. She held a hand against his chest and laid him back on the bed.

The young man smiled with anticipation and did as she told him. His eyes glanced down to her attractive features looming over his standing cock.

Elizabeth dragged her fingernails over his chest to his muscular thighs. She brushed her lips over the top of his cock, tasting his pre-cum. "Geef me je polsen. _(Give me your wrists.)"_ She whispered to him.

Without question, he held out his wrists to her and grinned when she tied them around the posts of the bed.

"Gah!" He groaned and looked at her feeling the tightness of his confinements. "Dat is een beetje krap, liefde. _(That's a little tight, love.)_ "

Elizabeth smiled bashfully, "Oh, ik Apology, _(Oh, I apologise,)_ " she watched his pained expression ease when her hands went back to the ropes tying his wrists, "Ik wil dat ze strakker _(I want them tighter.)_ " Elizabeth yanked on the ropes using supernatural strength to tighten the restraints until she heard the bones of his wrists crack.

The man cried in agony begging to her, "Alsjeblieft... alsjeblieft... laat me gaan. Ik smeek je, laat me gaan. Alsjeblieft... _(Please... please... let me go. I beg you, let me go. Please...)_ " Tears rivered down his handsome face.

Outside the bedroom door, the man heard a woman's yelp for mercy coming from another room. He turned his head to the wooden door that was closed locking out anyone to his rescue. No one would be coming back for him. No one.

"Ik smeek je ... alsjeblieft, ik zal alles doen. Ik zal geen ziel vertellen. Alstublieft, ik bid voor uw genade... _(I beg you... Please, I'll do anything. I won't tell a soul. Please, I beg for your mercy...)_ " The man pleaded with the vampiress as she stood with her back turned to him at the fireplace.

Elizabeth reached out taking the lead sprinkler that was simmering over dancing flames and faced the young naked man. She took in his tears staining his cheeks. "Alles wat ik van je wil, lieverd, is je gelukskreet. _(All I want from you, dear, is your cries of pleasure.)_ " Elizabeth moved to the bed, sitting down on the edge, "Oh, maar maak je geen zorgen, huisdier, ik heb je nog niet eens goed laten voelen. _(Oh, but not to worry pet, I haven't even made you feel good yet.)_ " She held out the torture device in her hand, "Ik zet zilver erin. Ik vind het veel effectiever dan water. _(I put silver in it. I find it much more effective than water.)_ " Elizabeth sweetly smiled giving her an air of innocence.

* * *

Dracula pushed her long blonde hair off of her shoulder and kissed her skin, "You are truly an artisan, proumbel." He ran his eyes over the mutilated body tied to the posts of the bed.

"I was inspired." She imagined the painting she had seen earlier in the night in her mind.

"You are a true _artist_." He took her blood stained hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed her knuckles and licked the blood coating her fingers. Elizabeth smiled, tilting her head to the side watching him.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Xander stared at Elizabeth unsure whether to head for the hills or vomit.

Giles sat back in his chair with the Watcher's Diary balanced on his lap. None of the pages of the diary had described a scene quite like the portrait Elizabeth created for them.

Angelus stood off to the side leaning against the stair railing with a smile dancing across his slanted mouth, "She hasn't even gotten to the good part yet." He grinned sinisterly.

Elizabeth lifted her eyes from her hands neatly folded on her lap to the faces staring at her with disbelief. A mischievous smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

 _ **Works: 'Judith Beheading Holofernes' Caravaggio 1598**_


	21. Chapter 20

**Sunnydale High Library**

It was finally sundown and the plan was set.

Angelus, Faith, and Xander were to search Mansion Row, while Giles, Willow, and the rest of the gang were going to research more about the Prince of Wallachia.

From across the room, Willow glanced up from the book laid out in front of her to see Angelus approach Elizabeth still sitting at the end of the table in deep thought. She had not thought of her past in a long while, it never seemed that long ago until speaking about it tonight. Now it just felt like lifetimes ago. It was a foreign to her as her human life.

Angelus' strong hand moved across Elizabeth's chest and cupped her cheek. He tilted her chin up towards him gently as he crouched down in front of her. "Memories are never forgotten."

"That's why they're called memories." Angelus gave her a small smile letting his gaze dart around her face. "I feel old," Elizabeth said.

With a nod, Angelus held a hand against her cheek, "You don't look a day over twenty-three."

He applauded himself as he got her to smile.

"Will you be okay here, with _them_?" Angelus asked.

"Yes," she nodded.

"I will find him, Buffy," Angelus told her softly. "I will make him pay for he's done to you."

Elizabeth believed that he would without a doubt make Dracula pay. "I know you will." She raised her hand, letting it slide down Angelus' cheek.

"Yo, Angie, let's go." Faith said standing at the front doors with Xander holding weapons on their shoulders.

Angelus growled at the nickname Faith had made up from him but did not say anything not wanting to cause an uproar.

Instead, Angelus lowered her head and whispered, "My Buffy," He leant forward pressing his mouth against her in a small chaste kiss.

Angelus stood and turned away from his mate, grabbing the axe on the table and followed the Slayer and her shaggy-haired friend out of the library.

Elizabeth turned her eyes from the door once it closed behind Angelus. Her mind went back to the memories of her past. She closed her eyes wondering where the time had gone.

* * *

Hours passed since Angelus left with Faith and Xander to hunt for Dracula.

Bored out of her mind, Elizabeth wandered around the main area of the library while Giles, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia disappeared on the upper level behind the various book stacks.

Elizabeth slipped into Giles' office. Her eyes darted around the quaint room. The bookshelf nailed to the wall captured her attention. She moved to it and ran her fingers lightly over the line of Watcher's Diaries. One was missing from the collection, Elizabeth figured it was the diary about her Sire.

She read each title until her finger lingered on the simply titled diary, _'18th Century'._ Elizabeth took it off of the shelf and opened it to the front page.

Inside the diary, her Latin name was written in perfect and elegant penmanship: Pulchra Creatura.

Elizabeth sat down in Giles' desk chair balancing the diary on her lap. She turned the page and examined the charcoal drawing of Dracula. The Watcher who had drawn this portrait of Dracula had captured the darkness of his handsome face perfectly.

She unconsciously touched the scar on her neck. The memory of his fangs painfully biting into her skin still lingered. She felt a veil of disgust just thinking about it. With everything inside of her, she hoped Angelus would find her Sire and stake him once and for all.

* * *

"So we are all settled then?" Giles said holding a book open for Willow. "I know this is a lot to ask Willow but..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's for the greater good, right?" Willow looked at Giles with apprehension.

Oz stepped forward and wrapped his hand around Willow's giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Someone needs to distract Buffy-" Giles began.

"I—I can do that." Willow nevously said then looked to Oz and Cordelia, "I need you guys to print whatever is in this." She handed them the floppy disk Giles had taken from Jenny's classroom.

Giles nodded his head, "Very good, I'll get the supplies."

* * *

A pair of orange Adidas appeared at the entrance of the office.

Elizabeth turned her eyes upwards from the diary to Willow's nervous looking face. "Hi, Buffy," she said twisting her hands together trying to smile but honestly, she was just terrified of the blonde vampire.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth glared up at the redhead eyeing her suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing!" Willow said a bit too eagerly. "I mean, I was hoping we could, um, talk? You know, like we did before, um, before you wanted to kill us all in our sleep..." Willow gulped regretting for volunteering to distract the vampire.

Elizabeth raised a highbrow of interest then kicked out an empty chair from against the wall, silently gesturing for Willow to sit down.

Willow looked down at the chair and nodded her head. She sat down and awkwardly held her hands between her knees.

"Well?" Elizabeth stared at Willow tilting her head side.

"Um..." Willow glanced down at the opened dairy on Elizabeth's lap and leaned forward visibly afraid of the vampiress. "Oh, is—is that Dracula? He's um... v—very handsome." Willow frowned.

Elizabeth's eyes did not move from the high schoolers face. "Yes, it is." A soft smile played across her mouth.

Willow moved her eyes up from the diary to Elizabeth's face and noticed the bite mark on her neck for the first time. "Does that bite mark mean that you're mated?"

The vampiress was not surprised by Willow's questions, she was always the intelligent one with a thirst for knowledge. "There aren't many rules in the demon world. Respect thy Sire and most importantly, be forever faithful to thy claim—Only if you happen to take a claim. The mark of a mate is sacred. If a vampire or demon ever tries to stake a claim on an already marked demon, the consequences are punishable by death. The bond of mates is tenfold than the bond between a Sire and Childe."

"What does it feel like? The connection between you and Dracula?" Willow asked forgetting for a moment that she was terrified by the vampire.

"It feels tinglingly whenever Vlad is near." Elizabeth tried to explain.

"And with Angelus, your mate, how does that feel? Different?"

Elizabeth smiled softly, "Very. He gives me a warmth. Angel makes me... whole—he makes me, _me_."

Willow was amazed that a soulless demon like Elizabeth was able to feel something close to human love. "How did you—Can I ask, how did you know Angelus was the one?"

"Instinct. I craved for him. Even when I didn't really know him. I had this... foreign need to be with him."

Elizabeth unconsciously turned the page catching Willow's attention. "Whoa!" Willow said scooting her chair closer to the vampire to get a better angle of the drawing on the next page. "Is that Angelus?" She pointed to the long haired man with striking features and a sinister grin permanently etched on his face. "He looks so strange—" Willow's eyes widened realising what she had just said. She turned her eyes up to Elizabeth's face noticing how close she was to the ruthless vampire. "—Err— I didn't mean strange, _strange_ —" she nervously stuttered. "I was j—just commenting how, um, 'strange' it was to see him, um, to see Angelus with—with l—long hair." She gulped terrified.

Elizabeth eyed the redheaded witch for a moment then smiled finding amusement in her anxious babble. "I guess it would be strange to see Angel with long hair if you hadn't known him then." She said and looked back down at the drawing.

Willow exhaled the breath she had been holding in with relief when Elizabeth did not snap her neck because she was offended. "Can I ask you something else?" Willow tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear.

Elizabeth did not respond waiting for the young woman's question.

"Why didn't you, um, run away with Angelus after you first met him? Why wait seventy years to be with him again?"

"I was dumb." Elizabeth shrugged it off and sat back in the chair thinking back. "When I first met Angel, I felt something I had never felt in my entire life. It felt like some sort of alien had taken over me. It was confusing and it pissed me off big time. At the time I didn't know what it was or what it meant." She turned her eyes to Willow, "A demons isn't supposed to feel _love_. I needed to learn to accept it—to understand this new found emotion I've always thought it was impossible to feel. I certainly never felt like that for Vlad. I admit, I totally wigged when Angel had felt the same for me. So I bolted as fast as I could." Elizabeth could see the hurt expression on Angelus' face the night she ran off after their passionate sex all of the years ago. "I ran back to what I knew—"

"And that was Dracula?" Willow asked.

Elizabeth nodded her head, "Right. He was familiar. I knew how to be when I was with him. As much as I forced myself to rid of that _feeling_ , I couldn't."

"So you went back to Angel?" Willow tilted her head to the side fascinated by the tale. She wondered if it would make her insane if she admitted that she really enjoyed talking to Elizabeth. She was easy to talk to. _Only if she wasn't so terrifyingly evil..._ Willow thought to herself.

"No—err—sort of... That was my plan. But like all plans, they're transparent—easily changed. I found myself in Germany during its conflict of 1848. Had a blast." She smiled at the memory. "I really honed my torturing skills then." Willow laughed nervously and took out a half eaten chocolate bar from the pocket of her overalls. "I very much enjoyed the single life. Finally, I got to do what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted... It only took me a hundred and thirty-eight years, plus the twenty-three years of my human life to finally do something for me, for once. I never had that before. I was either controlled by my bastard father or glued to Vlad's hip or making moon-eyes at an unattainable man. But as much fun as it was to be single, I couldn't deny my heart. So I headed to Paris in 1857, I just knew Angel was going to be there. If we were meant to be, he'd come to me."

"And he did. How romantic." Willow sighed dreamily. She broke a piece of the chocolate bar then asked, "What were you like before you went all... 'grr'? What were you like as a human?"

Elizabeth sat back in the chair thinking all the way back to her human life. It had been nearly forever since she had last thought that far back. Willow extended her hand offering the chocolate bar. Elizabeth took the candy and snapped a piece of it off and popped into her mouth then gave back the chocolate bar to Willow.

"I was miserable," Elizabeth told the redhead truthfully. "It was a tough time to be a woman in that era. You had no rights, no voice, no power. My sole job was to marry a very wealthy man like, a Baron or something and produce a son." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I was by no means penniless. So my upbringing was a bit different from what was usually practiced at that time. Most women were brought up to cook, clean, sew, and churn butter —things like that." Elizabeth waved her hand uncaringly. "I was taught to be beautiful, sophisticated, and imperial. I was taught how to run a palace filled with servants and my future husband's clergy of noblemen. I was taught to be better than every other woman I'd ever come across. Two _very_ different lifestyles as you can imagine."

 **(287 Years Ago)**

 **East London, England 1710**

 **Summers Estate**

The dim light glow of the candle flickered shading Elizabeth's face. Her eyes unmoving as she stared at herself in the mirror; frozen.

 _Who are you?_ She asked herself. _Why did God so mercifully curse you with this face?_ It was a question she asked herself quite often.

Why did God curse her with this face? She possessed a beautiful face with an electric smile. Most women, she knew would gladly take her place as being wanted, worshipped, and negotiated by every titled man in England.

 _What do they see in me?_ She narrowed her green eyes closer to examine her face then lowered them down to her chest. _I'm not as full as other women, I have a strange nose, pouting lips... Why would anyone find me handsome?_

A soft knock came at the door then opened slowly. "Miss Elizabeth?" The door opened wider. "Miss Elizabeth, are yew ready? Oh, Miss Elizabeth," Charlotte, the housemaid stepped into the dark room and frowned, "why are yew sittin' in da dark?"

The cockney talking woman went to the two large windows and threw open the heavy curtains letting the bright sunshine into the room. " _Thee_ should be baskin' in da sunlight. It is one ov those rare days da English rain ain't tauntin' us." She smiled standing behind the blonde woman still intently staring at herself in the mirror. "Oh, an' yaaahr 'air ain't even done yet. What 'ave yew been doin' all dis time?"

"Pondering." Elizabeth said thoughtfully.

"No need fer that, love. Women like yew 'ave no need ter ponder anything. Gosh, sometimes, Miss Elizabeth, I don't know what I'm gon'a do wiv you. At least yew 'ave yaaahr gown on." Charlotte stood behind the blonde woman staring at herself in the vanity mirror. "Lor' luv a duck! _Thee_ must look yaaahr absolute best dis evening. Master Summers is exceptin' a marriage proposal from Lord Denton tonight. Imagine that!"

"The councilman you mean?" Elizabeth looked at the housemaid fixing her hair.

"That's da one!" Charlotte leaned over Elizabeth's shoulder in a gossiping manner. "He's takin' over da Whig Party. All'll be announced tonight at da ball. Know what I mean?"

Elizabeth raised a brow at that and wore a small smile, "Of course father would want me to be married to _that._ A man with absolute power, solidifying his forever fortune."

"Oh, 'ush, Miss Elizabeth, 'ow bitter yew sound." Charlotte grinned pinning blonde curled pieces of hair on the top of Elizabeth's head.

"Charlotte?"

Charlotte smiled and said, "Yes, ducks?"

"Do you ever wish you could see more—you could've... done more? There has to be more than this. Marrying, having babies, wealth—there is a whole other world out there. Countries we've never even heard of!" Elizabeth said brightly at the mere thought of seeing the world but she knew it would never happen. It was not in the cards for her.

Charlotte smiled shaking her head. "A very active imaginashun yew 'ave, Miss Elizabeth., innit."

Elizabeth released a heavy breath of discouragement. "It's so unfair." She turned here eyes from the mirror to her hands.

Charlotte glanced down at the beautiful young woman sitting in front of her. She's known Elizabeth all of her young life. She had watched her grow into such a beautiful young woman. Charlotte always knew there was more to Elizabeth than her handsome features. That she had more to give to the world than the life she had been offered. She had always known, Elizabeth was a modern woman stuck in an era that does non-beneficial to the female sex.

"Of caaahrse, it's unfair. We're women., innit." Charlotte twirled a blonde hair strand around her finger then let it fall around Elizabeth's face.

The optimist Charlotte was she reminded herself that Elizabeth was young, perhaps the man she will marry, she will learn to love him and everything he can give her.

Elizabeth raised her eyes to Charlotte's face from the mirror and looked at her sadly.


	22. Chapter 21

**(287 Years Ago)**

 **East London, England 1710**

 **Denton House**

Hundreds of guests arrived punctually on time to the large estate house for the grand ball. Men dressed in a servant's white uniformed opened the coach carriage doors and held out their hands for the women to step out followed by the men accompanying them. Other men arrived wearing red officer uniforms, joking and following attractive women up the stairs.

A wooden stagecoach pulled up the cobbled way. A servant man opened the coach and quickly stepped aside when Hank Summers jumped out. With haste, Hank caught up with other noblemen and their wives heading into the ball.

The servant held out his hand for Joyce to step out. She gave him a small smile that never reached her eyes.

"May I escort you in, Madame?" A white-wigged aristocratic man held out his arm.

"Thank you, sir." Joyce took his arm and looked back to the stagecoach were her daughter still say.

Inside, Elizabeth stared out the window lost in her own mind. For the long twenty minutes in her life, she sat through her father's very adamant demands to be as charming and beautiful as possible in order to earn the eldest Denton son's marriage proposal.

"Miss?" The servant said politely.

Elizabeth turned her head to the servant and shyly smiled taking his hand.

"Thank you," Elizabeth told the servant softly and looked straight ahead letting her eyes move up the tall scale of the mansion. This could be all of hers if she played the part flawlessly.

She took a deep breath then raised her chin high exuding elegance and confidence, then made the first step to moving forward in the direction of the ball.

Standing in the darkness of the shadows hidden by the people passing him obliviously, he paid no mind to them. His black piercing eyes were fixated on the beautiful yellow-haired young woman walking up the steps into the mansion. She looked to be in her early twenties. His eyes slid from her face down to the bare finger of her left hand; she was unmarried.

The man sinisterly smirked and stepped back further into the shadows.

* * *

Inside the mansion, guests gathered in the large ballroom dancing and in the other rooms, other activities were held such as card games and polite drinking games.

Servants in white walked around with trays of red wine, pudding desserts and champagne.

The dark man from outside stood unseen by Elizabeth as he followed her every movement. Never in his life has such a creature so beautiful ever taken his attention like so. He felt like a moth drawn to her flame.

That is what she was, he decided. Fire. He could see it so clearly in her. It was bright, yellow-orange, and it burned to the touch. Her fire was unattainable and inebriating.

He caught a glimpse of her green eyes and found misery. He wondered how such a radiant creature could be so miserable. It took his interest in ways that were too naughty for a gentlemen's mind. He smirked to himself.

* * *

Elizabeth found her mother standing beside her father talking to the master of the house, Mr Charles Denton. Standing beside Mr Denton was his son, Fitzwilliam Denton. He was the reigning heir to the family fortunate along with the leadership title of the Whig Party.

She ran her eyes over Fitzwilliam and found him to be attractive in a dashing and distinguished sort of man. He was the kind of man other gentlemen would find intimidating. There was not a doubt in Elizabeth's mind that woman flocked to his side. She could feel their venomous glares piercing through her body. He stood tall, well aware of the societal hierarchy.

Fitzwilliam turned his eyes to Elizabeth as her father spoke to him. A slow, almost slimy smile washed across Fitzwilliam's lips. Elizabeth felt him undressing her with his eyes imaging all of the naughty things he would do to her. Elizabeth's stomach churned with disgust.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth?" Hank called out to her gesturing for her to come to them.

Elizabeth made a step forward when the feeling of being watched overwhelmed her senses. She had been feeling it all night. It was not the familiar 'being watched' feeling she was accustomed to by other women and men, no, this felt darker and more intimate.

She turned her head in the direction the intense gaze was coming from but did not see anyone looking at her directly. The guests around her were dancing and enjoying themselves to the small orchestra in the corner

Joyce reached out taking her daughter's hand into her own and gave a gentle squeeze drawing Elizabeth from her thoughts. "It'll all be over soon, my Buffy." She whispered.

Elizabeth looked at her mother and let her lead her to the eminent man, she could soon call her _husband_.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Willow stared at Elizabeth with sadden eyes. She hadn't excepted to sympathise with the vampiress so much. She also hadn't realised how _different_ life was for a woman in that era. It seemed extraordinarily different that what she's read in books. It was suffocating for every woman in every social class.

"I'm sorry you were so unhappy, Buffy," Willow said empathetically.

Elizabeth turned her eyes to the redhead and shrugged, "It was a lifetime ago—literally. Don't feel too bad for me, Wills. I got the lucky prize out of it in the end. Being turned was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I finally had power and a voice. I no longer felt inferior. I destroyed those who've crossed me. I even found love. So, don't feel too bad for me." Elizabeth told her with genuine honesty.

Suddenly, the vampires smile vanished from her face. Her eyes turned to the office door eyeing it suspiciously.

Willow watched nervously as Elizabeth placed the diary down on the Watcher's desk and stood from the chair.

A tingling feeling rushed through Elizabeth's body and it threw her off for a moment. She narrowed her eyes and breathed in a familiar scent that immediately ruined her good mood.

"Stay in here." She calmly ordered the teen as she stepped out of the office and turned the corner to see Dracula standing at the library doors. He looked tall and confident which only exasperated Elizabeth.

"You shouldn't have come here." She told him folding her arms across her chest.

He raised a brow wearing a smirk, "I do as I please."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "You made that certainly clear. It was a mistake for you to come here."

"Why? Because of _them_?" He pointed to Giles and the gang on the upper level of the library looking down at the vampires than to Willow standing outside the office. "Children? Or because of your... playmate?"

Elizabeth's expression darkened.

Dracula tilted his head curtly to the side watching her control her fury. He remembered teaching her to do that, it was the best asset for a demon to learn; How to control your demon. It took centuries of practice and Elizabeth was his star pupil.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Vlad."

Dracula stepped forward towards her, "You are still cross with me I see, Buffy."

"No, you don't get to call me that," Elizabeth growled at him. "What the hell did you think would happen, huh? That I was going to fall on my knees for you? Hoping we could maybe have another shot? That I was going to give up everything for _you_?" She shouted at him. "Well, guess what, _Vlad_? It didn't work! How many different ways do I have to tell you, that I don't want you? Hmm, let's see... Well, I've left you, I've mated another man, I broke any contact with you for the last how many centuries? One... two... three..." Elizabeth counted on her fingers. "Get the hint! I don't want you! I _never_ did!" Elizabeth roared.

Dracula took in her words of hatred and only smiled softly. He breathed in her intoxicating vanilla scent then opened his eyes to her looking smug, "Let's not dwell on the past, proumbel."

Elizabeth's eyes widen with disbelief, "You _son of a bitch_! You almost _destroyed_ my relationship with Angel!" She stopped until she was inches away from him glaring up into his eyes. "I will see your death, _Sire_. Make no mistake, you will be dust."

Dracula raised a cocky sceptical brow, "You won't do it." He reached out his hand and tenderly smoothed the back of his fingers down her cheek. "You _can't_ kill me. It's not your true nature. I'm in your blood. The darkness inside of you screams for me. It _yearns_ for me." He breathlessly told her casting her under his spell. "Tell me you feel it. Tell me what you feel, Buffy."

Elizabeth slowly moved her eyes to his face looking a little dazed. "You know what I feel?" Her hand suddenly clenched around his neck powerfully. "Bored." Elizabeth tossed him aside slamming his body into the wall.

Dracula stood his feet in pain and expertly controlling his fury. "You are resisting."

Elizabeth shrugged, "Looks like..."

"Come here. Come to me... Elizabeth..." he held out his hand.

Elizabeth looked at him pointedly and placed her hands on her hip. "You know, I think the thrall has really gone out of our relationship."

Dracula began to lose his control of his emotions. "What is this?"

"My true nature. Wanna taste?" Her voice was filled with venomous sarcasm.

Dracula charged his Childe ready to teach her a lesson. Elizabeth leapt up and spun around blocking his attack and jabbed her fist powerfully into his stomach.

* * *

Giles watched the fight begin. He turned his head to Willow and gestured for her to come to him while the vampires were distracted.

Willow hesitantly ran across the library and up the stairs just as Elizabeth landed on the table with a thud.

 **Mansion Row**

Angelus growled in frustration as he walked down the steps of the abandoned mansion with Faith and Xander following behind him.

"Another bust," Xander grumbled.

This had been the seventh mansion they had checked out and they only had three more mansion's left before they were forced to reconvene the search tomorrow night.

"I thought the Watcher would have had some information by now," Angelus grumbled.

"Hey, don't blame Giles. It's not our fault, you can't control your girl." Faith bitterly scoffed.

Angelus spun around and hovered over Faith flashing golden eyes. "Watch what you say next, Slayer. It could be your last. Alliance or not, say another word about Buffy, I will bathe in your blood." He threatened to shut the Vampire Slayer up quickly.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

On the upper level of the library Giles, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia conspired to get the supplies ready for the ancient Rumanian restoration spell.

Cordelia moved around Willow with burning incense as Giles opened the book to the proper page.

Willow held the orb in her hands then placed it down in front of her. "Are you ready?" She looked around nervously.

Giles lit the last candle and looked at Willow. "Here we go. We've only got one shot at this. It has to be done before Angelus gets back otherwise, we are fairly outnumbered."

"No pressure," Cordelia said to the two women with a terrified grin.

"Okay, here we go." Willow closed her eyes.

"Te rog Doamne, nu ignora strigătul de rugăciune! Fie ca orbita să fie vasul care îi va duce sufletul!" Willow said in broken Rumanian.

Giles looked down at the book and repeated them in English, "I beg you Lord, do not ignore the cry of prayer! Let the orbit be the vessel that will carry the soul to her!"

* * *

Elizabeth took her Sire down in a ferocious manner. She slammed her fists into his handsome face and firm body. The fury inside of her rose as everything began to flood out from her in waves.

Dracula grabbed Elizabeth by her shoulders and threw her off of him into the counter. Elizabeth growled in pain but got to her feet without a moment's hesitation.

She turned grabbing a knife from the counter and whipped it at Dracula.

Dracula took out the knife embedded in his chest gritting his teeth.

"A guy like you should think about going electric. Seriously." She charged him then paused when he turned into his mist. "Okay, that's cheating." Elizabeth eyed where the mist was reforming and a stake on a nearby counter.

She rolled over jumping up to her feet snatching the stake, just as Dracula reappeared. Elizabeth slammed the stake into Dracula's heart and intensely stared into his surprised eyes. "How do you like my darkness now?" She ripped the stake out from his heart never removing her eyes from his.

"Elizabeth..." Her name whispered from his lips as he fell to his knees before her and disintegrated into dust.

Unmoving, Elizabeth stared at the grey-brown dust pile at her feet. She sucked back her emotions and swallowed, "Goodbye, Vlad."

"Asa sa fie! Acum! (So be it! Now!)"

Dracula forgotten, Elizabeth turned her head hearing Willow's voice from the upper level behind the book stacks.

"Acum! Acum! (Now! Now!)"

She turned towards Willow's voice fully. Her frown deepened hearing the ancient foreign words echo around the library room. Elizabeth started to move across the library with the full intention of breaking up the secret Scooby meeting when a sudden jolt flew into her body forcing her to stagger backwards. She caught herself then collapsed to her knees gritting her teeth. She held a hand over her chest. Her entire body throbbed in torturous agony.

She let out a cry of pain looking up panting unneeded breaths. "Oh, no." She gasped. Her brilliant green eyes that had seen the world for centuries flashed a golden colour then disappeared a moment later and she fell to the floor.


	23. Chapter 22

**Sunnydale High Library**

Willow, Giles, Oz, and Cordelia ran from around the book stacks to see Elizabeth on the ground breathing heavily from the pain her body was in.

Tears stung in her eyes, her mind was dizzy and confused. She could hear shuffling of feet though it did not connect in her mind that it was the Scoobies that were moving to stand around her.

"Is she okay?" Cordelia asked cautiously followed Giles and Willow down the steps.

Willow swallowed nervously and took a step forward. "Stay back!" Oz grabbed Willow's wrist.

"I'll be okay." She continued on and held out a hand to place on Elizabeth's shoulder when the vampire moved.

Elizabeth's head snapped up looking at the redhead. Her eyes were wild with fright. Her cheeks were wet with tears and her hand clutched against her chest.

Elizabeth focused her eyes on Willow's face and frowned. "W—where am I?" The vampire shivered with confusion. "Who... who are you?" Her eyes darted around the faces staring at her.

Willow looked Elizabeth with surprise. Never had she heard a voice so fragile and childlike. It was so not the voice of the confident vampire she had gotten to know. "I'm Willow. We're... sort of friends. And you're in Sunnydale, California."

Elizabeth looked at Willow with confusion, "Where? I don't... I don't remember."

"You're in America," Willow said softly.

"What's the last thing do you remember?" Giles asked moving around the high schooler.

Elizabeth shook her head but the stress and confusion were all too much for her bear. "I don't... a—a ball. I was... going to the Denton ball." She said in her native English tongue. "How did I get here?" Tears fell from her eyes.

"You're a vampire, Buffy." The bewildered look on Elizabeth's face, Willow knew this was the last thing she expected to hear.

"W—what?" Elizabeth shook her head, "There... Vampires aren't real. I was at the ball when—"

"That was over two hundred years ago, Buffy," Willow said softly. "The year now is 1997. You're two hundred and eighty-seven years old." Elizabeth stared at the redheaded witch with huge eyes. "That night at the ball, Dracula turned you into a vampire," Willow explained a gently as possible. "You've been around for a very long time."

Elizabeth shook her head overwhelmed with the information until suddenly all of her memories over the last two centuries came crashing back to her. Tears sprung in her eyes with the mixture of sadness and devastating pain from her new aching soul. Faces of every person she's ever ruthlessly murdered stood before her.

"Oh god..." she said breathlessly seeing each display of every evil deed she's ever performed in her long existence. "Please forgive me..."

She lifted her eyes to the gang but did not see them. Her eyes darted to the mutilated victims she had ripped apart. They all stood around her, staring. They did nothing but taunt her.

"What did I do? What did I do? What did I do?" Elizabeth sobbed. Her redden eyes lifted to Willow and Giles' faces. "What did you to do _me_?" She tearfully asked through gritted teeth.

 **(109 Years Ago)**

 **East London, England 1888**

 **Miller's Court**

The streets of London in the dead of night were abandoned and slick from the fallen rain. It created a sinister fog across the city.

A man wearing a long black double-breasted frock coat and a matching black top hat. In one of his hands, he held a black cane and a doctor's medicine bag in the other.

He walked down the quiet streets heading towards a well-known brothel.

Women hung outside the building waving their fingers at the man. But he ignored their efforts and continued on inside the brick building.

He moved around the flaunting women heading deeper into the back. His eyes moved around the dark lit room to men hidden in the corners pounding into the prostitute while other women gave their suitors head.

His movements never stopped until his eyes set on a young woman about the age of twenty-five. Her hair was a mixture of red and blonde. It was neatly pinned up high on her head. She was an attractive woman by any means.

They made eye contact. She nodded her head and travel up the stairs for him to follow her.

 **No. 13 Miller's Court**

Inside a bedroom, the woman faced the well-dressed man and smiled, "Are you a doctor, sir?" She asked.

"Surgeon." He answered.

Her expression shifted into one that was impressed. "How noble of you."

"What is your name?" He asked.

The young woman sat on the edge of the bed looking up at him wearing a salutary grin. "Mary Jane."

"Mary Jane, what?"

"Mary Jane Kelly." She said tilting her head to the side. "What is your name?"

"Never mind that. Take off your gown and lie back on the bed." The man said standing in the darkness watching her take off her gown then laid down on the bed.

Mary Jane watched as the mysterious man set down the black medicine bag and popped it open. "What are you doing?"

"I need to examine your body before I.. perform." He told her casually. He took out a stethoscope and took out a small reflex hammer.

He crossed the room to her and watched her smile at him. He brought the stethoscope to her heart and listened for a moment. He let his hand slide down her body until it found her crotch. She gasped slightly feeling its coolness.

His fingers smoothed down her soft fair skin until it reached her elbow. He held her arm and snapped it the bone. Mary Jane yelped in pain and shock.

"Sir?" She cried out in agony.

"Quiet." He snapped her other elbow.

He took her broken limb and waved it around making sure it was very much broken then let it fall to the ground. The young woman sobbed and pleaded for him not to hurt her anymore. But her pleas fell on deaf ears.

He turned to his bad and took out a small scalpel and a large kitchen's knife.

"Please... _Please_ , don't." She sobbed.

The man stood over the woman and decided where he was going to begin.

"Ye should start with the spleen." A deep Irish voice came from the darkness.

The man spun around with surprise when a dark long haired man appeared in the darkness.

"Or her kidney's. Hmm, perhaps with those flabby-Abby breasts of hers." He then said with a smirk.

"No! No! Please, help me. Sir! He's mad! He's mad!" The woman cried.

"Naw, him?" Angelus' eyes turned to the man standing over her. "Oh, he's just an out of a practiced doctor. I've seen _madder_ individuals in my day, lass." An image of his dark haired Childe flashed into his mind. He then clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, "I'm 'fraid I can't help ye. Ye see, my woman, she does enjoy a good show."

A pale hand slid down Angelus' shoulder and Elizabeth stepped up around her vampire lover. "My love, you didn't tell me we had guests."

"They just appeared, I reckon." He took her hand and brought it to his lips kissing her knuckles.

Elizabeth's eyes went to the man standing over Mary Jane holding two knives. "Don't stop on our account. We're only here for your show, good Doctor." She said with a small smile then stepped forward to see Mary Jane's face. "You are a pretty thing, child. I wonder if your insides are as attractive as your outer being." Elizabeth pondered the thought.

"So happy we made it for the main event, my love." Angelus wrapped his arm around his mate's waist and pulled her back to him. He turned her face in his hand and captured her mouth in a heated kiss. His tongue slipped between her lips.

Elizabeth's fingers tangled into his hair, holding him tightly against her. Angelus manoeuvred her against the wooden wall. He grabbed her by her slim waist and hoisted her slightly from the ground. Instinctively, Elizabeth's legs wrapped around his waist as he hiked her gown up to her thighs and pulled out his throbbing cock.

The scent of Mary Jane's pain and fear excited the vampire's lust. They broke the kiss and licked their lips at the mere thought of the woman's blood. Elizabeth's eyes bore into his smiling as he stroked his member before finding her centre.

Grinning wildly, Angelus pounded himself into his mate and turned his head looking at the mad surgeon. "Well, what are ye waitin' for? A feckin' invitation? Start the feckin' show!" Angelus demanded.

The doctor turned to his victim and sliced open the left side of her body ripping out her spleen. He stabbed her stomach not having any place to put his knives then reached a hand inside her body in search of her liver. Mary Jane's screams echoed against the walls. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her tears stung in her eyes.

Angelus grinned, "Ah! Attaboy, Jackie! Attaboy! Rip her apart!" He laughed feeling himself approach the edge of ecstasy.

The mad doctor began his two-hour operation of mutilating the young innocent woman oblivious to the vampires against the wall watching the show for their own enjoyment.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Angelus, Faith, and Xander entered the library to find Giles, Willow and the rest of the gang standing huddled around something in the corner against the wall.

Angelus frowned immediately noting something was very off. "Where's Buffy?" He asked searching the room.

Willow looked at the Master Vampire with sympathy. She was not sorry about the spell she had performed, but she was sorry for the pain her newly placed soul caused her.

Angelus looked down to the pile of grey-brown dust. "What happened?"

"Dracula was here." Giles began. "Buffy staked him."

"Is she okay? Where is she?" His patients wore thin. "Where the _fuck_ is my mate?" Angelus growled.

Giles stepped aside revealing the blonde haired vampire in question in the fetal position against the wall in the corner. She rocked back and forth hitting her head against the wall.

"Buffy?" Angelus said with surprise. He rushed over to her sliding on his knees. His hands cupped her face forcing her to look at him. Her eyes were red, bleeding with tears. With his thumbs, Angelus wiped away her tears staining her cheeks. "What happened?" He pushed her hair from her face. "What happened?"

Elizabeth turned her eyes to his face, "I can feel it." She cried.

"Feel what, baby?"

"I can see them all!" She cried harder. "I've done so many _horrible_ things." Elizabeth tore her eyes from his face overwhelmed with shame. "I can feel it, Angel. It burns."

Angelus tried to keep up with what she was saying when it all fell into place. He tilted her chin upwards slightly so he can see her beautiful eyes he loved so much. Behind the depths of green, he saw a golden sparkle that was different from her demon. Just then it dawned on him. "Your soul. You have your soul."

Elizabeth's hands went to his shoulders and her cries came harder. "It hurts. It hurts so much, Angel."

Angelus pressed his mouth against her forehead and hugged her tightly, "I know it does." He drew his head back to look at her. "Don't worry, my love, I will make everything better. I promise, my Buffy. I will fix this." He gently rested her back against the wall. He stood tall.

As fast a sound, Angelus had a hand wrapped around Giles' throat and shoved against a wall. "What the fuck did you do?" He growled angrily. "And you better think wisely of your response, Watcher."

Faith grabbed Angelus by his arm forcing him to drop Giles to the ground. Angelus vamped out and began his long-awaited dance with the Vampire Slayer. He easily blocked all of her attacks. Unlike Faith, Angelus had fury working on his side. He picked her up by her throat and slammed her down into the tiled floor cracking it.

Angelus stood tall and his attention when to Cordelia standing behind Xander holding the Orb of Thesulah in her hand. He stomped over to her and snatched the orb throwing it against the wall watching it shatter into itty bitty pieces.

Over his shoulder, Angelus saw Faith charge him. He twirled around and back fisted her into the wall. He quickly ran to Elizabeth and lifted her up into his arms. He held her tightly against his chest.

He kicked the door open and sprinted down the hallway pushing past anything and everything that stood in his way. He could hear the Scoobies voices and footsteps.

Angelus rounded a corner heading straight to the basement access door. He glanced down at Elizabeth clutching her hands around his neck tightly. "Almost there, baby." He whispered.

The vampire lackey's waiting for Angelus and Elizabeth stood tall and opened the door. "Cover us," Angelus ordered as he ran in.

Without any thought, the vampire lackey's snarled and stood ready for the Scoobies attack.

* * *

In the basement, Angelus ran into the dark sewer not slowing down for a moment until they were in the safety of the mansion they called home.

The anger inside of him was masked with worry for his mate. He did not see this one coming at all. He hated himself for not being there for her. For not being the one who took the soul.

He tightened his arms around her. His neck was damp from her tears but she seemed to have calmed down a bit much to his relief.

 _I'll make it better, my love._ Angelus silently vowed as he sprinted through the swear tunnels.


	24. Part 2

**Part 2**


	25. Chapter 23

**Crawford Mansion**

The vampires in the mansion jumped into action as soon as the front door flew open. Angelus ran inside with Elizabeth in his arms.

William frowned watching his Grandsire push past everyone in almost a panic.

"Ooh!" Drusilla whined childishly looking at Elizabeth cry against Angelus. "Something rotten is in Mummy." She said. "She's all shiny and pure."

William frowned turning his eyes back to the Master Vampires. There was a new scent in the air and it radiated off of Elizabeth.

"Move!" Angelus growled as he walked hastily to the back. "Get the fuck out of the way!" He roared kicking servants standing in his way as he rushed to the stairs the led to the bedroom.

 **(19 Years Ago)**

 **New York City 1978**

 **254 West 54th Street**

Sweat, sex, and drugs filled the air at the popular disco nightclub. Psychedelic colours of purples, greens, reds and blues reflected against the large mirror ball spinning above on the dance floor.

The disc jockey on the top tier of the club spun a vinyl 33 LP between his fingers readying himself to change out for the next tune. He lowered the record onto the turntable and grinned leaning into the microphone in front of him, "Hey, hey! Groovy cats! This is a new _slow jam_ from those _dy-no-mite_ Gibb brothers! So get your foxy lady and spin 'em around the dance floor." He lifted the turntable arm and placed the needle on the record.

A moment later, the first few notes of the keyboard began to play. The bright lights shifted in a flash from groovy purples and greens to a sombre, more romantic blue and red hue.

 _"I know your eyes in the morning sun,_

 _I feel you touch me in the pouring rain._

 _And the moment that you wander far from me,_

 _I wanna feel you in my arms again."_

Standing in the centre of the crowded the bright light checkered dance floor, Elizabeth and Angelus stood. Her back pressed against his chest. His arms were around her waist, holding her tightly. They slowly swayed to the music, lost in their own world and oblivious to the people around them.

 _"How deep is your love, how deep is your love,_

 _I really need to learn,_

 _'Cause we're living in a world of fools,_

 _Breaking us down,_

 _When they all should lets us be,_

 _We belong to you and me."_

Angelus smirked as Elizabeth's hand reached back, toying with red disco shirt collar then the golden chain around his neck. Angelus buried his nose in her long tress of curly blonde hair. He breathed her addicting vanilla scent deeply.

His hand slid down from her bare shoulder and the side of her tight skin coloured Halston dress to her hand. He spun her out from his arms then tugged her forward into his chest.

Elizabeth laughed brightening her beautiful face despite the odyssey of colours painting the nightclub. He took her hand in one and with his other, he held her lower back just above her plump bottom.

They moved with the music. Angelus twirled her round and round then brought her back to him. One, two... two—two, three, the couple's feet hustled to the disco slow jam.

Angelus spun her around once more. Elizabeth's back pressed against his chest much like how they started. Angelus dipped his head down and kissed the mark on her neck. Elizabeth turned her head back to him and ran her fingers through his dark brown combed back hair.

Their lips gently met.

They broke away and turned their attention slowly to a couple stepping off the dance floor heading towards a booth on an upper tier.

* * *

Electronic rhythmic heartbeat, backed by a synthesiser bounced from the speakers. White, red, purple, strobe lights flashed against the walls.

 _"Ooh,_

 _It's so good, it's so good,_

 _It's so good, it's so good,_

 _It so good,_

 _Ooh."_

Elizabeth slid into the booth, pressing herself against the man from the dance floor. Beside Elizabeth was the man's partner. She dreamily gazed at Angelus as his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

The man passed Elizabeth a rolled up fifty dollar bill and smirked. Returning his smile, she took the bill and leant forward snorting the white cocaine line on a compact mirror plate. She threw her head back and wiped under her nose.

Elizabeth turned her head to the young woman beside her and pressed her mouth against hers. Her tongue brushed against the woman's lips asking for entry.

 _"Ooh,_

 _I feel love, I feel love,_

 _I feel love, I feel love,_

 _I feel love,_

 _Ooh."_

The two men watched the sensual kiss, aroused by the heat in the air, the sexy gyrating music blaring through the speakers, and the dark disorienting lights flashing in their faces.

Elizabeth broke away from the kiss leaving the woman breathless. She turned to the man beside her and kissed his mouth hungrily.

Angelus drew the woman's attention to him. The woman wrapped her arms around the vampire's neck smashing her mouth upon his. The scent of her arousal hit his nose. His lips trailed off away from her mouth and down to her neck over her pulsing artery.

His features shifted into his true demonic face and he bit into her neck.

 _"I feel love, I feel love, I feel love."_

At first, the bite exhilarated the woman. She grabbed the back of his head holding him down to her. But then, suddenly his bite became painful. She opened her mouth to cry out but no sound came out.

Angelus opened his golden eyes as he drained the woman's blood and watched Elizabeth do the same with the man. His hand slid from the woman's waist and across the booth chair wrapping his fingers around Elizabeth's extended hand. He gave her hand a squeeze.

Elizabeth greedily drank the man's intoxicating blood just as her cocaine high sent her into a whole new level of thrill.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Crawford Mansion**

Elizabeth woke with a start sucking in an unneeded breath. She lifted her head from against the stone wall and stretched out her sore neck.

Sadly, Elizabeth rested her head back to the stone wall thinking about the vivid memory that filtered through her mind. She could taste the copper cocaine laced blood that swirled her senses into technicolour.

It made her sick to her stomach.

"Are you still seeing them?"

Elizabeth tiredly turned her eyes to the darkness where Angelus sat in a chair watching her patiently.

He crawled from the chair onto the floor entering the yellow light from the glowing fireplace. He slid on his knees to her and sat down looking at her meaningfully. His eyes swept across her exhausted face. Her beautiful green eyes were red and puffy.

She looked totally emotionally drained.

"At least your crying finally stopped." He gave her a weak smile.

"It hurts." Her voice was small and fragile. It was a sound Angelus was not accustomed to hearing. "I just want it to stop. I see them—I see _every one_ of them. When I close my eyes... It's too much. I don't want this." Her eyes again filled with tears. "I wanna be as I was. I want this soul out of _me_." The tears in her eyes slipped down her cheeks.

Angelus scooted himself closer to her and wrapped is strong around her. He held her tightly against his chest.

"I want it out!" Elizabeth cried into his neck. "Please, Angel, please take it out of me. Please, make me the way I was again. I can't do this. I—" she sobbed holding herself against him.

"Shh..." Angelus ran his hand around her back trying to soothe her. "I have Spike already searching for the Shaman and that warlock, Rake or Rack—whatever his name is." He tucked the long strands of blonde hair behind her ear and tilted her chin upwards to him, "I'll make it better. We'll take that pesky _thing_ out of you and we'll kill those fuckers for what they did." Angelus kissed her pouting mouth. "I will make it all better, my Buffy." He twirled a strange of her hair around his finger. "But first, you need rest, love. You must be tired. And the floor is not a proper place for rest." Angelus manoeuvred his arms under her legs and around her back. He stood tall kissing her forehead. Angelus crossed the short distance to the bed and laid her down on it. He quickly moved to the other side and laid down facing her.

They stared at one another holding a hand under the pillows. Angelus raised his free hand closest to Elizabeth and caressed her dried tear stained cheek.

In every other circumstance, Angelus would have revelled in the deep despairing depression of a woman. But this was not any woman. This was his mate. She was the reason of his existence. The love of his life. The pain she felt, affected him more than he was willing to understand.

She was the most beautiful woman his eyes had ever seen. She was the sun and stars.

All he wanted to do was lick her wounds and take out that soul that plagued her body. It was unfair that she was forced to go through this. He could only imagine the devastation her pure and innocent soul was feeling. After all, Elizabeth had a reputation for being a merciless and ruthless demon, much like himself.

"I wish it were me."

Elizabeth lifted her head from his chest, "What?"

"I wish it were me instead of you. Unlike you, I was not a good man to start out with. But you... You are perfect." His eyes darted around her face. There was a chance he was going mad, but her face seemed brighter. Perhaps, it was the aura of her soul shining through. It mesmerised him and disgusted him all at once, confusing his senses.

"What happens now?" Her voice sounded foreign to Angelus' ears. Never has he ever heard her voice sound so frail and broken.

"For now," Angelus scooted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her body, "rest. I need you to rest."

 _ **Songs Used: "How Deep Is Your Love" Bee Gees, 1977**_

 _ **"I Feel Love" Donna Summers 1977**_


	26. Chapter 24

**Months Later**

 **Crawford Mansion**

The large doors of the library sitting room opened. From behind the minion of vampires and William, Angelus appeared holding a young man in his mid-twenties. The man's eyes were red, puffy, and filled with tears that stained down his face. The odour of terror and piss surrounded the man like a hazy mist.

Angelus' upper lip curled with disgust but the man was a necessary to the means. He dropped the shaking man to Elizabeth's feet.

Slowly, Elizabeth turned her eyes from the dancing bright flames of the fire to the weak man muttering incoherent pleas. Elizabeth sat in a large chair with her legs tucked under herself and a comfy knitted sweater swallowed her thinning body. "What's this?"

"You need to eat," Angelus replied.

For the past months since regaining her dreaded soul, Elizabeth's already slim frame began to wither. He could see her ribs, her cheekbones were more defined, her collarbone was restrained under her skin. This was not his Buffy. This ghost of a woman was virtually unrecognisable.

"I'm not hungry." Her wide conflicting eyes narrowed over the shivering man. She tightened her small fist that held closed the sweater around her neck. The smell of his body intoxicated her senses. More than anything she wanted to feed. Her stomach growled for blood, but she couldn't take a life. An epic Roman battle fought inside of her, controlling herself from leaping off of the chair and sinking her teeth into the man's enticing neck.

Angelus stepped over the man and went to his mate crouching to her eye level, "My love, you've barely eaten anything in months. If you starve yourself anymore—I don't want to know what will happen." Angelus reached out and cupped a gentle hand around her cheek, "Whatever's stopping you, fight it. You're a vampire, do not forget that. You need his blood to survive." He could see her internal battle with herself as clear as day. She was hungry. But for the life of him, he had trouble understanding her inner struggle to give into her demon. "Please, love, for me."

Elizabeth's eyes reached his then back down at the man's. She slowly nodded her head and scooted to the edge of the chair as Angelus picked up the young man by the back of his shirt and held the man in place for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth stood from the chair. She was significantly smaller than the captured young man. Her soulful eyes met his bright blue ones. He silently begged for her mercy and pardon him. Elizabeth hesitantly reached out her hand to touch his face but quickly drew it away quickly dropping her hand to her side. "I can't." Her chin quivered with desperation.

"Eat." Angelus softly commanded not wanting to scare her off. In the midst this entire ordeal, he learned to be patient and understanding but it was beginning to wear thin. But this was his mate, he would have to force himself to gather more patience. It was unheard of for a vampire or any demon for that matter to regain a human soul. This was something no had seen coming.

Clenching her jaw forcing the aminal instinct of her body to come forth and push aside the soul for just a moment so she could throw herself to the young male to feed. She slowly unfolded her tight fists unable to take a human life.

The young man's eyes widen with terror.

Gathering all of her courage once more, Elizabeth's hand went around to back the man's head. She tugged on his dark hair, tilting his head to the side, exposing his neck. The scent of his blood swarmed into her nostrils, sending an exhilarated feeling but her tortured conscience's voice hollered in her ears demanding to know what she was thinking.

The man began to wriggle in Elizabeth's hands, struggling to push himself away from her.

Angelus watched her carefully but the man in her hands was moving too much. Out frustration, Angelus snatched the man from her hands and snapped his neck. He shoved the dead man into Elizabeth's arms. "Eat." He told her again backing away to the chair she had previously sat in.

Elizabeth closed her eyes finding the strength within her to bring forth her demon. Luckily, her hunger was beginning to cloud her newfound conscience. Her haggard features morphed into her true face. She opened fanged mouth and lowered it down to the man's neck and bit into it.

When the fresh blood hit the back of her throat she growled and bit down harder with need and desperation sucking his blood.

Angelus sat back folding his hands over one another and watched his lover greedily suck the man's blood. He felt relief that she was finally eating. He was tearing his dead insides apart watching her wither away to nothing. She was too thin in his mind. Under her beautiful green eyes were dark blue circles. He was becoming desperate to find a way to tear that soul out from her body. Nothing seemed to work. He had the Shaman, every Warlock, and black Witch, he could find across the world to come but still, his Buffy was cursed.

When the body was completely drained of blood, Elizabeth dropped him to the floor. Two minions raced over to the body and dragged it out of the way.

Angelus stood to his feet opening his arms out wide for her. Elizabeth turned into his body and sobbed into her hands feeling nothing but utter guilt for the evil act she had just committed. He wrapped his arms around her thin body and hugged her tightly feeling her tears soak through his silk shirt.

* * *

"I have the perfect location to launch you, Smurf-y." Angelus smirked looking at the Judge standing against the wall staring blankly at the evil Master Vampire.

William tipped back in his chair with his feet on the edge of the table uncaringly. "And where's that, mate?"

"My Buffy thought of it," Angelus said proudly and looked back at his mate sitting in a chair back against a wall staring mindlessly at the fire.

Drusilla sat down beside her Sire. Her brown eyes were wide with wonderment as she stared at the once majestic vampiress, "Mother Angel has a bright light." She began. "Mother Angel always had a bright light but this light is a _curse_." Drusilla hissed.

"Quiet!" Angelus growled coming to his lover's defence. For months, Drusilla and the other vampires pestered him with questions about his companion's condition. And for months he snarled angrily until they went away.

Angelus went to his Queen and went to his knee in front of her, taking her hand. He watched as she startled her from wandering and brooding thoughts. She shifted her eyes from the fire to his face. Elizabeth couldn't control her body as it shivered feeling Angelus' lips against her knuckles. He missed her strong hands wrapped around him in every delicious way possible. He missed her body pressed against his giving him impossible warmth.

Words weren't necessary in order for Angelus to understand her thoughts. He promised to her months prior and every day since that he would do everything in his power to rid of that poisonous soul.

It was so long ago during the mating ritual, Angelus promised that he would be by her side no matter what. They would never under any circumstances separate from each other. He was now sticking by that vow.

"Tonight is the night, my love. Just as we always planned, you and I are going to unleash our pet. You do remember that plan, right?" Angelus asked gently.

Elizabeth silently nodded and watched Angelus searched her green eyes for some sort of glint or glimmer of excitement that she would have shown in the past. But there was nothing but remorse and exhaustion. The fire that he had fallen in love with had dimmed into blackness.

For months he had men working around the clock in search of a cure for her disease. He was running out of patience and ideas.

"Be excited, my love." Angelus tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I am." She told him quietly.

Angelus saw through her knowing she was just saying it to appease him. He decided not to push it and nodded. He stood from the floor and pressed his lips against her forehead and gave her frail bony hand a gentle squeeze; afraid to crack her bones.

Elizabeth's followed him with her eyes as he turned around back to the meeting to continued presenting the grand plan.

She knew that something had to be done. Elizabeth thought long and hard about her options for her new situation. She can either, learn to suppress her guilt-stricken conscience and continue on as a demon or betray everything she's ever known, including her mate.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Faith sat on the top edge of a chair twirling a stake around her hand half listening to Giles and the Scoobie meeting.

"Is it strange that we haven't heard from either Buffy or Angelus in months?" Willow asked.

Giles removed his glasses polishing them with a handkerchief. "I suppose..."

"Buffy is probably going through something very traumatic." Jenny looked at Giles.

Giles nodded his head placing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "There has never been a situation like this before. A demon having their human soul restored. The horror she is probably going through—"

"—I've had better days." The gang turned around to the front library doors to see Elizabeth standing there. Her appearance surprised them. Though she was still very beautiful, but her legendary radiance and confidence had seemed to dim in its exuberance. She appeared emotionally drained. Her hair laid around her shoulders in messy blonde waves. A dark grey cardigan sweater hung off of her slim body. It was obvious that she had not been eating or sleeping well. She looked weak.

"Buffy!" Willow said with surprise and relief to see that she hadn't done anything too extreme like suicide from the guilt.

"Buffy, are you well?" Giles asked despite himself. He knew deep inside, he shouldn't care for this vampire but her soul was different than the evil demon that inhabited her body for centuries and tormented them for months on end.

"I have information." Elizabeth slowly moved across the library towards them but still kept a safe distance the group; especially from Faith.

Faith cocked a high suspicious brow. She was weary of where the Vampiress. For months, she hadn't seen her or her lover running around town causing havoc. "And what information would that be?"

"Angelus is planning on setting the Judge loose. Tonight at the mall."

Giles' eyes went wide, "He's breaking our agreement? You know this for certain?"

"I do." Elizabeth nodded.

"How?" Faith ran her eyes over the blonde vampire.

Elizabeth looked at the Slayer unfazed by the Slayer's venomous tone. "Because it was _my_ plan. It was my plan all along. To form an alliance with you. I knew you," she looked at Giles, "would want the Judge to be destroyed. So I had Angel to agree with your terms."

The Scoobie's stared at the vampire with surprise.

A small half smile tugged at the corner of Elizabeth's lips, "I've been around a very long time. I've just seen just about everything there is to see. I've done everything there is to be done." She released an unneeded breath, "Angel is going to carry out the rest of my plan, in my honour. The Judge needs lots of people in order for him to gain his power and where's a lot of people...?"

"At the mall," Willow answered.

"At the mall," Elizabeth repeated with a nod. The Scoobies stared at her with conflicting expressions unsure whether to believe in the vampiress or accuse of her setting a trap like before. "You can either believe me or not. No matter what, the Judge will attack tonight and if you don't stop it, you're going to have a lot of innocent dead lives on your conscience and believe, you don't want that."

Faith stood up from her chair and moved around the table standing in front of the vampire. She crossed her arms showing her power. "How do we stop it?"

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side sizing up the Vampire Slayer. "No weapon forged can kill him." She said and caught Giles' head nod. "The last time it took an army. What you need is sitting in the artillery room at the army base just outside of town."

"Yeah, I know it." Xander stepped around Cordelia nodding his head.

"Good. Be at the mall at sundown." Elizabeth said began started to turn away when Faith called out to her.

"So what? Are you one of us now?" Faith asked.

Elizabeth turned back to the gang and shrugged, "I don't know." She left the library leaving the Scoobies to ponder what had just happened.

 **Sundown**

 **Sunnydale Shopping Mall**

Night came quickly, the mall was crowded with people moving in and out of the stores and standing in a long line outside the movie theatre.

Double doors on top of the upper level of the mall opened. William and Drusilla were the first to enter along with a band of vampire minions. The Judge was the next to enter and finally, Angelus and Elizabeth followed the demon arm and arm.

Angelus unhooked her hand that was around him and stepped forward standing beside the blue demon. He grinned with excitement when the Judge extended his hand towards a business man burning him to ash.

"Lock the exits," Angelus ordered to the vampires standing around him. He turned his eyes to the Judge and smirked darkly, "It's all yours."

Elizabeth stood in the background watching as the Judge held up his hand freezing everyone in the mall with a slow fire burn energy. She heard Drusilla's excited clapping hands and William's low chuckle.

In the back of the mall behind a concession stand, she saw a dark-haired woman sneakily moving around the frozen people careful not to be affected by them.

Suddenly, an arrow zipped through the air straight into the Judge's chest. The Judged stumbled backwards cutting off his burning power. "Who dares?" The Judge angrily roared.

All eyes went up to the top of the popcorn machine of the concession stand was Faith holding a crossbow in her hands. "I think I got his attention..."

Angelus growled with anger. _How the fuck did they know?_

"You are a fool," The Judge said, "No weapons forged can stop me."

Elizabeth stepped away unnoticed by Angelus or anyone else in the Evil group. She stepped into the shadows knowing what was to come.

"That was then," Faith hoisted a rocket launched on her shoulder. "This is now."

"What does that do?"

Faith smirked and launched the rocket.

William grabbed Drusilla by her wrist throwing themselves out of the way. Angelus jumped over the rail of the balcony just rocket hit the Judge exploding him into pieces.

Angelus looked up shaking off the rubble and smoke from his hair and roared with anger. "Get out of here!" He ordered William and Drusilla.

The furious vampire jumped to his feet and growled watching Faith disappear into the movie theatre lobby under the water sprinklers. "Run as fast you can, _Slayer_! You'll be ripped to pieces when I get my hands on you!" He stomped through the cascading water straight into the theatre lobby.

* * *

The lobby of the theatre was quiet. The only sounds were the water hitting the glass cases and the familiar voices of the gang outside picking up pieces of the Judge.

Angelus cautiously entered the theatre lobby moving his eyes carefully around the soaked room.

A pole of a rope stand smacked across the vampires head. Angelus twisted around and growled flashing his fangs wearing his true face. Faith batted the pole again into Angelus' body but this time, Angelus caught the weapon and tossed aside. He backhanded her across the face then slammed her body into a wall.

Faith recovered quickly and snapped kicked Angelus into the chest. She followed her kick with a series of angry punches into his body than face.

Angelus tired of this fight already, he grabbed the Slayer by her brown soaked hair and smashed her head through a pastry glass case and pulled her up through the top of the glass before tossing her aside.

"Tsk, tsk, poor Faith-y. Just admit it," he gripped the back of her black jean jacket with both hands and brought her up forcing her to stare at his demonic face, "you'll never beat me." He slowly began to lower his sharp fangs over her neck when he was suddenly pulled back dropping Faith to the ground.

Faith landed with a thud and looked up to see Elizabeth standing in front of her facing Angelus.

Angelus' golden eyes moved up to her face with an expression of disbelief. "Buffy?"

Elizabeth did not say a word as she lifted Angelus to his feet by the front of his shirt. "Leave." She softly told him as he fell back down to the floor.

Angelus couldn't move. He stared at his mate shocked to speechlessness. She was protecting Faith. _She must be the one who told them the plan and how to stop the Judge, it's the only way they'd ever know. My Buffy betrayed me._

He stood straight morphing back to his handsome features but the expression of confusion mixed with his hurt of betrayal painted across his face. "What happened to you?" Angelus slowly backed away from his lover and the Slayer and turned away back into the main area of the mall making the final escape.

Elizabeth sucked back her tears, forcing herself to deal with her unassorted feelings later and turned to Faith. She looked down at the Slayer who had a look of awe etched into her features. Elizabeth held out her hand for Faith to take. "Are you okay?"

Faith nodded as she got to her feet. She was as surprised as Angelus. She opened her mouth to say something but Elizabeth was already backing away towards the theatre's exit.

 **Following Night**

 **Crawford Mansion**

Angelus sat on the step in front of the large fireplace. He paid no mind to the burning heat against his back. Lost in his own mind he stared down at his shoes.

What had happened the night before, Angelus had not seen coming at all; Elizabeth, his lover, his mate had turned against him. She pushed him away to protect the Slayer. She had deliberately foiled their plan. Other than him, Elizabeth knew how to defeat the Judge if they ever lost control over the demon.

His Buffy had betrayed him.

He wished that he could thrash about as he normally would have done if he was double-crossed. Normally, Angelus would find his Judas and torture them until they slowly died an agonising death but this wasn't just any traitor, this was his love. He wanted to fall to his knees and sob.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard soft footsteps coming from the garden entry way.

Angelus looked up to see his Elizabeth standing before him. She looked better if not still torn with guilt and confusion. She wore a light purple three-quarter sleeve blouse, a silver skirt and matching sandals. She looked more like herself again.

"You betrayed me." Angelus' voice of pain sliced through the thick silence.

"I know." She whispered unable to meet his eyes.

Angelus got to his feet and stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets, "Why?"

Elizabeth was silent for what felt like a century. Inwardly, she was forcing herself to just as honest as she possibly can with him. That is what they needed at the moment, total honesty. "It was something that I had to do."

"So, what? Are you going become one of _them_? A white hat? You're going to start killing your own kind for what? Redemption? To make amends for your sins?" He didn't mean for his words to sound so biting but it could not be helped.

Elizabeth looked down at her hands unsure how to answer him. "I don't know." Her eyes went up to his hopeful looking face. "But I need to figure it out. I don't know who I am anymore. I'm not who I was nor am I that fragile little girl from my first life. I'm caught between two beings—two phases of me. I don't know where I belong. I feel... lost."

"You're not lost. You belong with me. You're a demon, Buffy, never forget that."

She took a small step forward never shifting her eyes from his. "What kind of demon am I? I can't go back to the way things were, Angel. Not like this. I just can't."

Angelus knew without asking what she was referring too but he still refused to accept that. "Buffy, you can—"

"—Look at me." She dropped her hands to her sides, opening herself up to him. "I could barely feed on that man's blood, let alone take his life. You did that. I don't have it in me to be the way I was. Please, understand me."

Angelus angrily clenched his jaw, "So what happens now? I go to feed and you come after me with a stake?"

"No," Elizabeth shook her head. "The soul isn't going away anytime soon. I need to understand this _thing_ that's in me now. And I can't be with you as I do."

His ears perked to her last words. She had just said the unthinkable aloud and she meant it.

"What? Buffy," Angelus stepped forward towards her still keeping a space between them, "when we mated, we vowed— _I_ vowed to you, no matter ever happened in our lives, I'd be there for you. That I'd love you—"

"—Can you honestly look at me in the eyes and tell me that you still love me?" For the first time in months, Elizabeth's voice was clear and precise, "Tell me that you understand me now—even just a little bit? Because if you do, I would sure as hell welcome your insight."

Angelus hated her but deep down, he knew that she was right. She was always so wise and intelligent, it was one of the many traits he loved and hated about her.

When her hand touched his cheek, Angelus opened his eyes to her face and leaned into her tender touch. "For the first time ever, I can feel it, Angel. I can feel my love for you. This soul... whatever it is... It was the missing piece that I never knew I needed. But it's there and its real. I love you so much but I need this. I need a break... from us."

"Buffy, I'm trying here. I'm trying to understand. I can try harder." He ran his fingers through her hair memorised by its softness. "I swear to you, I can try harder."

Elizabeth held a finger over his lips, "It's only for a little while. Please, give me this time to find myself again."

"What if you find yourself and I no longer fit in, what then?" Angelus feared that Elizabeth would do the same as she had done to the last man who loved her, she told him that that she needed to find herself again and she never went back to him.

Elizabeth did not respond to his question. Instead, she closed the small space between them and pressed her mouth against his in a gentle kiss. Angelus sighed heavily, feeling like this was a goodbye. It's been too many months since he last felt her soft lips against his. He needed her. He needed his Buffy.

"Please," Angelus begged her softly resting his forehead against hers, "don't leave me."

Elizabeth slowly backed out from his strong and comforting embrace. She needed him to understand and accept this from her. She felt her dead heart tear into pieces inside of her chest. This was about the worst form of torture she had never committed.

Taking the first step of bravery, Elizabeth turned her back to her mate heading to the doors she had entered from when Angelus' deep voice stopped her.

"You still my girl?"

Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder back at him, "Always."

Angelus watched her leave the mansion. His eyes followed her until she disappeared completely in the darkness of the night. No longer able to stand on his two feet anymore, Angelus sat back down on the fireplace step. He clenched his fists tightly until they shook. The pain swirling in his chest ate him from the inside out. He felt his skin crawl. There was only one other solution he could think of in order to get his mate back. More than anything, he needed her.


	27. Chapter 25

**(137 Years Ago)**

 **London, England 1860**

White snow covered over the cobble streets of East London. People walked along the crisp and cheerful night arm and arm smiling and enjoying the evening Christmas festivities. A group of carolers sang and laughed as they walked swiftly past a young boy standing at the base of a large Christmas tree in the middle of the square. He stared up at it in awe. The twinkle of the shining ornaments made him smile with excitement.

"It is beautiful, is it not?"

The young boy, Daniel turned his eyes from the memorising tree to a beautiful young woman with yellow hair and a warm smile. He slowly nodded his head weary of the stranger.

"Have you been a good boy this year?"

"Y—yes, ma'am" He shyly replied.

Elizabeth faced the young boy and crouched down to his eye level. She reached out and pushed back his shaggy dark hair off of his forehead. "How old are you, young Daniel?" She smirked hearing his growing heart hasten with nervousness mixed with fear. "You have nothing to be afraid of. Do I look like some sort of monster, love?" She asked him gently with a soft soothing voice.

Daniel shook his head, "N—no, ma'am." Slowly his guard began to fall down the longer the sweet young woman smiled at him, "I'm eight, ma'am."

"Such a good age. You have the entire world in front of you. Tell me, child, have you written to Father Christmas?"

"Y—yes, ma'am."

"That's good." Elizabeth stood back up to her full height and held out her white-gloved hand, "It's getting colder. Do you smell the snow?" She warmly smiled as Daniel nodded his head. "How about I walk you home. These streets can be... dangerous for a young child like yourself. Especially during the holiday season."

Daniel eyed the blonde woman once more then took her extended hand. The dark smile of success escaped his notice as he let the evil demon take him home.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale, California**

 **Abandoned Factory**

Elizabeth woke with a jolt, gasping for unneeded breath. She sat up on the cot and pushed back her sweat-matted hair. She had been staying at an abandoned factory on the edge of town since she left Angelus, two months ago.

"You killed me." Elizabeth turned her head to the sweet little voice. Her eyes widened with tears when the young boy, Daniel appeared from the shadows. "Don't you remember? You said you'd bring me home. Only, I never made it home. You told me, you were a gift from Father Christmas. An angel. A gift from God."

"Go away." Elizabeth gritted her teeth and buried her face in her hands.

The child's smile grew, "You tucked me into my bed for Mother to find in the morning. Was that her present from Father Christmas?"

Elizabeth stumbled as she got to her feet. She moved around the young boy and went to the grab her sweater that hung on a hook.

"You cannot escape, ma'am!" Daniel called out to Elizabeth as she ran across the factory holding her hands to her ears desperately trying to block out the boy's cries. "The Devil is following you!"

 **Giles' Apartment**

Giles stood in the small kitchen at the stove turning off the whistling teapot when the doorbell rang.

"I wonder who that could be," Giles said looking at Jenny who sat on the couch with an open book balanced on her lap.

Giles moved around the kitchen and crossed to the door briskly opening it. He paused. "Hello." Giles failed to keep the surprise from his voice.

"I'm... I'm sorry to bother you." Elizabeth shakily said without meeting the Watcher's eyes.

"Rupert, who is it?" Jenny then appeared behind Giles and was taken back by their visitor. "Buffy?"

"I... I need your help." Elizabeth turned her eyes to the pair standing inside. "I know I have no right to ask for it, but... there's no one else."

"Angelus?" Giles asked.

Elizabeth sadly shook her head. "N—no, he's... I left him. Please, will you at least hear me out?"

Giles and Jenny shared a look then turned their attention back to the blonde vampire. Giles stepped away from the door to a table picking up a crossbow. He held it up, aiming it at her heart. "Alright," Giles said.

Jenny opened the door wider, "Come in."

Elizabeth cautiously entered the apartment and swallowed. She watched as Jenny rejoined the Watcher at his side. "I've been seeing..." she struggled to say, "I've been having dreams lately, about my past. It's like I'm reliving it all over again. They're so vivid..."

Giles places down the crossbow to consult a book from the shelf. "Perhaps, these dreams are because of your soul."

"If we fully understood the magic's that was used to restore your soul, it might give a peace of mind," Jenny added.

Elizabeth nodded her head, "That could work." She watched Jenny move from her spot and head into the kitchen to pour three cups of tea when Elizabeth's ghost appeared behind the brunette woman.

Her eyes widened to the ghost standing behind Jenny. She wore a black designer outfit and a smile of pure evil.

Giles watched her closely and frowned turning his head to see what she was staring at so intently. "What are you staring at?"

"Don't... don't you see her?" Elizabeth asked.

"See who?" Jenny moved around the kitchen and walked straight through the ghost. But the ghost did not disappear, her grin only widened.

"I can't—" Elizabeth backed against the door and reached for the doorknob.

Giles and Jenny stood side by side with puzzled expressions.

 **(114 Years Ago)**

 **London, England 1883**

 **Victorian Mansion**

A string quartet played sweet holiday songs in the back corner next to a large window covered in frosty snow. People stood about having pleasant conversations with one another.

In a secluded spot of the mansion away from the holiday cheer was Elizabeth and Angelus.

Angelus' mouth moved from over hers and down her neck sucking on her sweet and delectable skin. She smiled tickled by his moustache and moaned when his hands squeezed her backside. Angelus licked his tongue over the vein of her neck confronted by the obstacle of her thick gown.

Elizabeth's hand moved from around his neck and down the breasts of his suit coat to the button of his black trouser pants. "I want you, my Angel." Elizabeth reached into his trousers grasping a hand around his cock.

Angelus growled against her shoulder and began to lift her gown up her thighs. His large powerful hands snuck under her petticoat and adjusted himself at her centre. With a single thrust, he entered her. He grunted and began to roll his hips with haste needing his release desperately.

Elizabeth turned her head to the side grinning at the young servant trapped against the wall under Elizabeth's clenched hand that was around her neck. "Why so down, young Margaret?" Elizabeth asked and moaned as Angelus reached the sweet spot that began to build her ecstasy to the brim. She turned her attention back to her lover and leant forward for his mouth again.

"Please... let me go." Margaret cried choking under the vampire's grasp.

Elizabeth laughed, "Cry out. Call for help. Make a scene. I'm sure the mistress will believe your behaviour beyond reproach. You have nowhere to run, child."

"Please... my son..." Margret's tears fell from her cheeks.

Angelus lifted his head that was buried into Elizabeth's hair and looked at the begging young woman. "He'll make a fine dessert." He grinned as he pumped himself into his mate.

Reaching closer to their breaking point, Elizabeth tugged Margaret forward. She held her head between the vampires. The vampire's features shifted to their demonic faces. They lowered their fangs and sucked the poor servant's blood until there was nothing left. A moment later, the infamous vampire couple came together and tossed the dead servant aside.

"I told you this party would be worth going to, love," Elizabeth said smiling up at her lover.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale, California**

 **Abandoned Factory**

Elizabeth shot up from her sleep. She quickly crawled out of the dingy cot and stumbled into the main area of the factory closing the front of the large knitted sweater that hung off of her body.

Her ghost stood in the centre of the factory. She wore a shimmering silk green sleeveless blouse top, a pair of skinny leather pants, and black heeled shoes. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulders in waves. "Trouble sleeping?" She asked.

Elizabeth stared at her soulless self with wide frightened eyes, "You're not real."

"I'm always real."

"Leave me alone," Elizabeth ordered digging her fingers through her hair.

"I can't." The ghost followed Elizabeth across the factory smugly smiling at the tortured vampire. "You won't let me." Elizabeth staggered backwards when her ghost appeared in front of her. "I'm a part of you. I'm the part of you that you are trying to suppress—for whatever reason. Oh, for god's sake _Buffy_ , you were a lot more fun when you were banging your head against the wall. So sad." Her ghost mocked pouting her lips.

Elizabeth winced at her words but remained on the steady ground. "What do you want?"

"Lots of things..." The ghost slowly moved around Elizabeth. "I want to be rich. I want to be famous—Oh, wait! Been there, done that. I want to _live_."

"I'm sorry... we can never be alive."

Elizabeth's ghost shook her head, "No, I don't want to be _alive_. How dull... I want to be free, again. You're holding me back. You defiantly have the 'poor me' thing down. It's sickening." She smirked then scrunched nose, "God, you need to bathe once and awhile. What, having a soul suddenly made you forget how to function? And look at this dump! Lizzie, we're better than this." The ghost patronised.

Elizabeth sat down in a chair tired and confused. She lifted her eyes to see her ghost crouch down. She reached out and ran a hand along her face without touching her skin. "I don't want to make you feel bad." Her ghost softly said. Before the vampire's eyes, she watched her ghost morph into the young eight-year-old she had murdered a hundred and thirty-seven years ago. "I just want to remind you of who you are, ma'am." He told her with his little voice.

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Giles stood in front of the group addressing them from the latest Hellmouth occurrence. "It seems Buffy is having vivid dreams of her past. She made a visit to my home yesterday night."

Jenny nodded her head and turned to Faith and the others, "Whatever it is, it's hurting her."

"I say, who cares?" Xander shrugged looking at Faith for her support.

"I'm with Xand on this. Why should we give a shit?" Faith looked at her Watcher. "For the last year, Buffy and her boyfriend spent it torturing us. Nailing puppies to my front door. I say, let her burn in Hell."

Giles' frown deepened. He understood his Slayer's hatred but this was not the evil vampire that was in need. It was her human soul. "Faith, surely, you understand that this isn't the Buffy we've come across in the past. This is an innocent soul."

"I'm not a keeper of souls Giles-" Faith began.

"No, no, you're not the keeper. You are the protector. Saving human souls is apart of your destiny."

Faith sat back in her chair taken back by her Watcher's passionate words. She turned her eyes to Willow silently looking for her advice. By the expression on the redhead's face, Faith knew what she had to do. "Okay. Where do we start?" She sighed heavily.

Giles picked up a book nearest to him. "Well, we start, not surprisingly with research. Xander, the Black Chronicles. Jenny and Willow, jump on the computer and look up anything you can about that Rumanian restoration spell. Anything on its background or origin. Oz and Cordelia, search the book of Gypsy magic. Faith, I want you to track down Buffy. Get her here. With her ongoing hauntings, I fear it's not safe for her to be alone right now."

"Where do I start?" Faith asked standing from her seat.

Giles thought for a moment and said, "Try her usual haunts. The mansion. But this isn't our normal Buffy. You might need to think outside the box on this one." Faith nodded and headed into the weapons cage for a stake.

Giles stepped back from the table and watched as the group stood and began their assignments. Inwardly, he worried for the vampiress. He hoped to whoever was on their side that they weren't too late for Elizabeth.

A hand wrapped around his arm taking him from his thoughts. He looked down at Jenny who looked at him with appreciation. "You're doing the right thing, Rupert, despite what she's done to us—to me. That wasn't her."

"I know. I just hope whatever is happening to her doesn't kill her."


	28. Chapter 26

**Abandoned Factory**

Elizabeth sat in the centre of the old factory with her hands over her ears and her head between her knees. She rocked back and forth desperately trying to block out the ghosts haunting her.

"The thing I remember most was thinking how artful you were." The ghost of Elizabeth's mother stood over her. "You took your time with me but your father... Gosh, he's done so many horrible things to you. He wanted to sell you like a slave, heaven forbid. But yet, _I_ was the one you sought out for your revenge. Was that what it was? Revenge? What did you say... Oh, yes, "I will torture the soul right out of you, dear Mummy" and you did my sweet girl." Elizabeth's mother smiled warmly down at her. "Then, of course, you beheaded me and put my head on a spike with my corpse strung about besides your fathers. You were always an artist, my Buffy. Even as a little girl with your drawings of butterflies—"

"—Stop it," Elizabeth whined squeezing her hands tighter around her head trying to block the ghosts out.

Joyce began to kneel down and morphed into the servant girl, Margret. "That's what makes you different than other beasts. They kill to feed. But you, you took more kinds of pleasure in it than any other creature that walks or crawls, young Lizzie."

"Please... stop it..." Elizabeth begged through her stinging tears, "... stop..."

Margret sat back on her heels and laughed, "Yes! Cry out! Make a scene!" She mocked standing to her feet changing into a soulless Elizabeth. "You're pathetic. You were great once upon a time. You had it all. The entire Underworld respected you. They were on their knees in your presence. You were their _Queen_. You were the most feared demon to ever walk the earth. Poets wrote sonnets over your legend. Now, what? This is where your story ends? With guilt and suffering?"

Elizabeth slowly looked up at her ghost with wide tearful eyes.

"The best thing Vlad had ever done for us was turning you into a demon." The ghost said with an eye roll.

"That's not true." Elizabeth shook her head. "I was a woman once."

Elizabeth's ghost chuckled crossing her arms. "Oh yeah, what a woman you were."

 **(287 Years Ago)**

 **London, England 1710**

 **Ballroom**

Elizabeth stood miserably beside her father as the few targeted men with the highest salary incomes stood before her running their slimy eyes over her. Each one of them imagined her naked and underneath them with her legs spread wide.

That was Elizabeth's future. She was well aware. There wasn't much to live for except perhaps the babies she would no doubt produce for her future disgusting husband.

 **Present Day 1997**

 **Sunnydale, California**

 **Abandoned Factory**

"You had nothing to live for except perhaps the nightly raping from your husband. You think you'd love the children you'll disappoint him with? That's a laugh." Elizabeth's ghost laughed with a heavy eye roll. "You wouldn't love those little parasites any more than you would love your husband. You had nothing. You _were_ nothing more than a pretty face. And my, my did this face take us places."

"That's not true!" Elizabeth looked up at her ghost with teary eyes and gritted teeth.

The ghost kneeled down next to Elizabeth. "Buffy, I don't want to hurt you. But you have to understand. Cruelty is the only purpose you ever possessed. You mistake who you are for a curse. But it's not. It's your destiny. I'll show you."

Elizabeth shook her head and watched her ghost change before her eyes into the face of her mate. "Rest, my love." The ghost of Angelus softly purred gesturing for Elizabeth to lie down on the concrete floor of the factory. "Rest and dream of us..."

Elizabeth slowly closed her eyes as the whispering voice of her love hummed into her ears. She fell into a deep sleep.

 **Elizabeth's Dream**

 **Crawford Mansion**

 **Master Bedroom**

The room was peacefully silent as Elizabeth slept soundly under the silk maroon sheets of the king sized bed. Her entire body warmed with a tingle that shot down her spine. She slowly opened her eyes to Angelus sitting on the edge of the bed. He wordlessly held out his hand and brushed it down the side of Elizabeth's face.

Elizabeth sat up from under the covers letting them fall around her waist. Her hand slid down Angelus' clean-shaven cheek. She leant forward and captured his mouth in a needing and loving kiss.

Angelus' long fingers immediately needed to feel her cool soft skin. He lifted the hem of her spaghetti strapped top over her head revealing her naked breasts. Angelus pulled the thin sheet out of the way and laid her back on the bed.

It wasn't long until they were naked in the bed. Elizabeth straddled over Angelus' waist over top of him. With slow and sensual movements, Elizabeth rolled her hips. She held Angelus' wrists above his head. Angelus' wrist escaped from her grasp and cupped the side of her face, "I love you."

 **Abandoned Factory**

Elizabeth's eyes flew open with a gasp. She sat up running her fingers through her hair and looked up to Angelus' ghost sitting beside her.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" The ghost of Angelus asked. "Why do you keep yourself away from me?"

"No..." Elizabeth stumbled getting her feet moving away from the demonic ghost taunting her. "Leave me alone!"

"Buffy, don't do this to us." He pleaded.

"No!" Elizabeth shouted spinning around to face the ghost again when before her, Dracula stood confidently with his hands behind his back.

"You cannot live for an eternity will all that pain, dragul meu." He came closer to her crossing the large space. "You are denying what you are. You are the only one holding yourself back not letting yourself discover your true potential. I've always known. I've always seen it." The ghost looked down at the blonde vampiress with nodded eyes. "This is why we follow you now. To remind you of your gift." Elizabeth shook her head. He outstretched his hand caressing her cheek though his hand never touched her face. "Death is your gift." He whispered into her ear.

Elizabeth lifted her eyes to his face as if all fell into place.

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **Wolfram & Hart**

The large chestnut wooden doors broke down with a powerful kick.

Inside the conference room, lawyers of the demonic law firm shot up from their seats staring at the intruder with surprise.

Angelus entered the room with a hand clutched around a lawyer's neck. The lawyer bled from his eyes and ears having the life squeezed out of him moments before.

The lawyers in the conference room shifted their eyes from the brutally killed colleague to the Master Vampire who wore his demon face. He flashed his fangs in a bloody grin. "Who do I need to kill to get a decent lawyer around here?" Angelus asked with a laugh.


	29. Chapter 27

**Los Angeles, California**

 **Wolfram & Hart**

Angelus licked his bloody lips and tossed the dead lawyer in his hand towards the conference table. "Now, I heard from a little birdie that one of you degenerates can assist me." Angelus shifted back to his human features wearing a dark smile across his handsome face. "Since this place is owned and ran by Satan himself, that's good for me. Because I really need someone to think outside the box." Angelus stepped forward picking his fingernail. "So, any volunteers?"

None of the lawyers moved an inch. They stared at the Master Vampire with wide frightened eyes. Though Wolfram & Hart was an evil law firm, most of its employees were human.

With a heavy sigh, Angelus rolled his eyes and said, "Ugh, fine... I promise I won't kill you." He said with boredom.

A young blue-eyed man in his mid to late twenties, wearing a clean fitted suit and shaggy hair stepped forward much to everyone's surprise. "I'll help you." He said confidently.

Angelus turned his eyes to the young lawyer and raised a highbrow. "Really?" He stepped forward closing in on the lawyer who refused to fidget away. "What's your name?"

"Lindsey."

"Lindsey, you're going to help me? You didn't even ask me what the problem was. That's mighty irresponsible of you, counsellor." The politeness in Angelus' voice was forced and mocking.

The man stood tall in the face the evil vampire. "It doesn't matter. You're a legend, 'Scourge of Europe', Master Vampire, Angelus. I will help you... for a price."

Angelus tilted his head to the side finding a bit of enjoyment in the young lawyer's confidence. Suddenly, a hand wrapped around the lawyer's neck and squeezed it hard cutting off his airway. "Or, I'll just kill you, free of charge. Don't test me, _boy_."

The young man struggled for breath but nodded his head. "Yes, sir." Lindsey croaked.

Angelus dropped him down to his knees and watched as he coughed running a hand through his hair.

"See, was that so hard?" Angelus smirked then snapped his eyes to the other lawyers. "This meeting is adjourned. Leave quickly." Angelus warned and watched the lawyers scramble past him and the young man still on his knees recovering. "Please, don't get up." Angelus moved around the man heading towards the large black leather seat and sat down.

Finally regaining his strength, Lindsey stood up on shaky knees and turned to Angelus.

"I need you to find a way to remove a human soul."

Lindsey looked at Angelus with surprise, "Remove a human soul?"

"From a demon."

"You want to remove a human soul from a demon?"

Angelus frowned with irritation, "Is there an echo in the room? Yes, that's want I want. I didn't stutter and the next time you repeat after me, I'll cut off your hand." He threatened to eye the lawyers right hand. "Now, sit down," Angelus patted a hand on the table to an empty chair, "we have many things to discuss."

 **Sunnydale, California**

 **Sunnydale High Library**

Hours had passed since Faith hit the streets in search for the souled vampire. But Elizabeth was nowhere to be found. Out of frustration and the sunrise approaching in an hour or so, Faith decided to call it and walked back to the high school where she would no doubt find her friends diligently working.

"Faith," Giles said looking up from the book in his hand as he came from the office. "No sign of Buffy?" Faith shook her head with disappointment. "It's good you're here. I'm afraid the ghosts that are haunting are far worse than we could even imagine. Take a look." He led her to the long table. "These letters contain references to an ancient power known as the First."

"The First? The first of what?" Faith frowned.

"Evil. Absolute evil, older than man, than demons—very few have ever heard of it, fewer believe in it. In fact, this was all we could find on it. The First predates the written word. It is a force that transcends all realities, all dimensions, and if focused, could have the power to turn Buffy."

"Turn Buffy?" Faith's brows furrowed as she worked it out in her mind. "You mean, turn her against us. Make her evil again."

"Evil, despite having her soul. If we can't find Buffy in time, we could lose her to Evil."

Faith turned her eyes from the books spread about to her Watcher. "So this is really bad. I think if you, me, and everyone else split up we could cover more ground. We don't have long until sunrise."

"Even then, it could be too late."

"Let's hope not. This soul-having Buffy is making me like her." Faith begrudgingly admitted.

 **Sometime Later**

 **Abandoned Factory**

Elizabeth vigorously paced back and forth across the open down factory room. Her fingers were threaded into her hair. Behind her, standing off to the side was her ghost sitting on a conveyor belt with her legs crossed.

"We've been over this already, what else are you good for, Buffy? Except for killing, destroying... You've been to countless world-changing revolutions. You know the power of a revolution. Revolutionise yourself." In a flash, Elizabeth's ghost appeared in front of her abruptly stopping her feet. "You were always meant to be _Evil_. You're not a good person, Buffy. Don't fool yourself."

Elizabeth looked up at her ghost, "Get away from me!" She continued to pace walking through the ghost.

The ghost morphed into Angelus. "Come back to me, my Buffy."

Elizabeth slowly turned hearing the deep velvet voice of her lover. Her eyes reached his handsome face. His hair was long, tied neatly back. His attire was from a century so long ago. She felt her green eyes fill with tears reminding herself of the large empty void of him not being with her created. "You're not Angel." The sadness in Elizabeth's eyes melted away the longer she looked at her lover's ghost standing in front of her.

"No, I'm not. Ye told him to leave." His Irish brogue was thick in his words. "Ye weren't born to endure this pain. Ye're so much stronger than that. In two hundred and eighty-seven years, have ye learned nothin' about ye'r'self? As long as ye're alive, ye were meant for Evil."

"Then I'll die." She said softly.

"Ye haven't the strength to kill ye'r'self."

Elizabeth shook her head and looked out the window of the factory and started for the door. "I don't need strength. I just need the sun to rise."

"You're not supposed to die! That isn't part of your destiny!" Elizabeth's ghost called out after her but Elizabeth never stopped walking keeping her back turned to the evil ghost.


	30. Chapter 28

**Crawford Mansion**

Time was running out for the Scoobies to locate the souled vampire. On a whim, Giles and Jenny tried the mansion, knowing full well, Elizabeth was probably not there. They went anyway having nothing else to lose.

Giles was the first to open the large wooden door of the dark mansion. He turned on the flashlight in his hand and let the yellow light dance across the large open room.

"Rupert," Jenny said pointing towards the gardens.

Giles held out his and silently telling Jenny to stay behind him as he led the way towards the mansion. They didn't know if there was anything creeping in the shadows.

As they rounded the entrance of the garden, they saw Elizabeth sitting on a marble bench in the centre surrounded by dying flowers.

Without turning around, Elizabeth knew she was no longer alone. She also knew her visitors were human and the not the ghosts who have been taunting her mind.

"Buffy?"

"They're all dying." Elizabeth softly whispered shifting from plant to plant. One by one, the crisp dried up leaves crumbled in Elizabeth's hand. "Without someone watering them every day and the bright sunlight..." she looked up at the night sky through the broken ceiling, "... they've dried out."

"Buffy, the ghosts that have been haunting you, it's called, The First—"

"—It wasn't haunting me. It was showing me." Elizabeth turned to Giles and Jenny watching her carefully. "Reminding me of what I am."

"Where," Jenny said still standing behind Giles.

"And ever shall be. It was right," Elizabeth looked back to the dying dry plants. "I wasn't meant to be Good. I was born to be Evil. I was meant to be a... killer..." The words tasted bitter in Elizabeth's mouth.

Jenny shook her head moving around Giles crossing the gardens to Elizabeth. She sat down and searched for the vampire's eyes. "No, you are not born to be a killer."

Elizabeth sadly looked at the computer teacher with enormous guilt. "Look at what I did to you." Elizabeth's eyes went down to Jenny's chest where a hint of scars tattooed her skin. "I did that," Elizabeth whispered letting a tear escape from her eyes. "I hurt you. I've hurt so many people."

"That wasn't you." Jenny softly assured her picking Elizabeth's chin up with her finger.

"It _was_ me. It doesn't matter if I have a soul or not, I'm a murderer."

Jenny shook her head, "No, don't fall for the First's trap. It wants you to think that. It wants you to believe that your Evil despite your soul. You're not Evil, Buffy. You are good. You can be really good if you fight for it."

Elizabeth looked away from the Gypsy woman shaking her head smelling the sunrise as it approaches. "It's _too hard_."

Giles turned his head upwards to the sky seeing it lighten up. "The sun is coming out. We must get inside now."

Jenny looked back at the Watcher nodding her head then laid a gentle hand on Elizabeth's arm. "Come on, Buffy, the sun is rising." Jenny stood still looking down at the vampire

"Let it," Elizabeth said emotionally drained staring at the ground.

"N—no," Jenny said unbelievingly of what she had just heard, "Buffy, you are better than this. Please listen to me," Jenny crouched down in front of Elizabeth holding her hands to vampire's shoulders, "you can beat it. I know you can. You're not Evil, Buffy. Your soul is Good. You are _Good_. You need to fight, Buffy, fight whatever hold the First has over you." Jenny said almost desperately knowing the sun was rising behind the mansion wall and soon it would be over their heads.

Elizabeth lifted her eyes from her shoes to Jenny's face. Her sad face hardened slightly, "You think it is that simple? That I can just... change? Be different? Act like the past two hundred years never happened? You can never understand the things that I've done. Leave me alone." Elizabeth shoved the teacher away from her and stood from the bench finding the most open spot in the garden for the sun to shine on her.

"Rupert," Jenny called to him to do something.

Giles stepped around the brunette woman and stood face to face with Elizabeth. "You can't be out here much longer, Buffy."

"I want you to leave. Go." Elizabeth turned her back to the Watcher.

"Buffy," Giles reached out for her arm when Elizabeth snatched it away.

She spun around angrily and growled, "I said to _leave_!" Elizabeth commanded. "I am not a _thing_ worth saving! I'm evil and disgusting! Get it through your heads and _get out_!"

"Buffy," Giles tried again this time there was desperation in his voice. He reached out grabbing her arms ready to force her out of the gardens and under shadowed shelters.

Elizabeth broke free from his hands and snarled, "The world wants me gone."

"That's not true, Buffy—" Jenny tried again.

"—Why won't you leave me alone! Haven't you had enough? Go! Leave me alone!" Elizabeth ordered fighting back of the overwhelming emotion boiling in her chest and linger in her eyes.

Jenny stepped forward refusing to do as the vampiress had commanded. "No. That's not going to happen. You have a soul but you don't know what it means. It means fighting. It's hard and it's painful and it's every day. I know everything you have done because you did it to me. I was chained in your cellar for hours, bleeding everywhere, barely breathing," Elizabeth looked away from Jenny feeling the weight of remorse, "and I forgave you." The blonde vampire suddenly looked at Jenny. "I _forgive_ you, Buffy. But if you're too scared of the magnificent potential inside you, then burn. But you are so much better than that. You have the chance to do real Good, Buffy, to make amends. Fight for it."

Elizabeth looked at Jenny with sad eyes but there was something in the way Jenny looked straight back at her, naked and exposed than broke Elizabeth's, un-beating heart. She had a decision to make and she only had minutes to make it.

 **Six Months Later**

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **Wolfram & Hart**

Lindsey kneeled in the centre of the conference room holding his bloody arm. His eyes were wide with shock and pain staring at his amputated right hand. It laid lifeless in front of him in a pool of blood. He cried out in agony gritting his teeth.

Leaning on the edge of the conference table unmoved by the cries of pain, Angelus ran his finger over the bloody knife in his hand. "Do you know why you lost your hand?" Angelus asked the young lawyer calmly.

Lindsey began to shake his head but then nodded in hopes he wouldn't anger the Master Vampire anymore.

Angelus pushed himself from the conference table and crossed the room crouching down in front of Lindsey still holding the knife in his hand. "Because you didn't get me the information I wanted on the time I so generously gave you. I gave you, one day. How many days has it been?"

"S—six... mon—ths..."

"That's right. Six months. That is one hundred and eighty-two days plus one day too long. I warned you. Now, where is the information, Mr McDonald?" Angelus waited patiently tilting his head to the side.

Lindsey held his injured arm against his chest and reached to the manilla blood stained folder and slid it over to Angelus.

Angelus turned his eyes from Lindsey to the lawyer before him. With a smirk, he picked up the folder and stabbed the point of the knife into the centre of Lindsey's amputated hand. Lindsey turned his head to the side and vomited the empty contents of his stomach.

Uncaringly, Angelus stood turning his back to Lindsey pacing back and forth as he read over the documents. He frowned, it was entirely too wordy and time was of the essence.

"Give me the Cliff Notes version," Angelus ordered.

When there was no response from his lawyer, Angelus frowned and looked up at the documents. Lindsey laid on his side clutching his bleeding arm on the verge of passing out.

"Oh, no you don't. Not yet." Angelus placed the folder down and crossed the room back to Lindsey picking him up by the lapels of his suit coat. "Tell me, Lindsey. How do I get my mate back?"

"T-the k-key..." he stuttered, "... P-Perfect h-h-happy-happy-happiness..." Lindsey whispered then passed out a moment later.

Angelus' brows furrowed lower over his eyes. He dropped the lawyer to the ground and stood. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger over his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting."


	31. Chapter 29

**Los Angeles, California**

 **Wolfram & Hart**

"Perfect happiness you say?" Angelus thought aloud as he slowly faced Lindsey passed out on the floor in a puddle of blood from his amputated hand. "How, oh, how will I accomplish that?" He began to pace back and forth then stopped. "Of course... She loves me. Of course, I would be her perfect happiness. To have me again." Angelus smiled to himself and plotted to leave this city the next night and go back to his mate.

 **Next Night**

 **Sunnydale, California**

 **Restfield Cemetery**

Through the bushes and trees of the woods, Angelus emerged keeping to shadows. When he entered the small Hellmouth town, he hadn't know where to start in finding his mate. He knew from the grapevine that she no longer stayed at the mansion. No one knew where she lived now. The only thing they did know about their former Queen was she was killing her own kind or that was the rumour.

Angelus let his bond lead him to her and it led him into a graveyard. For vampires, he and Elizabeth did not haunt cemeteries like their stereotypes. They held more class than other demons and were far more intelligent because where there was a cemetery, there was a Vampire Slayer. In the past, they did not seek trouble unless it either benefited them in some way or it was simply just entertainment.

* * *

He narrowed his brown eyes on the woman in question. Elizabeth appeared under the moonlight just as a fledgeling vampire snarled at her with hunger coming around a tomb.

Angelus rolled his eyes at the newly risen vampire. The vampire hadn't had any clue just _who_ he was facing. It wasn't the Slayer. It was the Slayer of Slayers.

With a proud smile, Angelus watched as his Buffy easily toss the fledging to the ground. He chuckled as Elizabeth pounded her tiny yet lethal fists into the vampire's face and choked her hand around its neck. She lifted the vampire off of the grass then rammed the stake in her hand straight into the vampire's heart. The vampire combusted into dust before her eyes.

The rumours had been true, Elizabeth had turned against her kind. She was now fighting for the side of Good.

Angelus watched her carefully noticing her moment of pause but it did not stop her from long shaking off the familiar feeling within her. She continued on through the cemetery in search for another vampire or demon to kill.

 **Later That Evening**

 **Giles' Apartment**

The night sky was dark and starless. Perhaps the stars were hidden behind layers of gliding clouds.

From the shadows, Angelus emerged. He carefully kept his distance knowing that Elizabeth would easily feel his presence if he came any closer.

He watched her from the window of the Watcher's home. She sat on a chair across from the couch surrounded by the very people they had happily tortured.

Angelus' eyes lingered on her beautiful face. She no longer appeared malnourished or in pain from her memories. In fact, she looked as beautiful as ever. Even more so, Angelus missed her.

Getting himself back on track and focused, Angelus' face darkened narrowing his eyes over the brunette Slayer moving across the living room and sitting down beside Elizabeth.

* * *

Elizabeth knew her mate was standing outside watching her intensely. Of course, she knew he was there. As soon as he entered the town, she felt him in the pit of her chest. Though they've been apart for a number of months, it does not erase centuries of being together.

With everything she had, Elizabeth desperately tried to keep her attentions on the meeting, but for the life of her, she didn't have a clue of what was going on. She felt her mind and body being drawn to her mate.

 _You can't think about him right now. God, I miss him... No! He's not ready. You're not ready._ Elizabeth's mind raced desperately trying to convince herself that going back to Angelus at this time was not a good idea. They were too different now.

The moment she lifted her head upwards, her eyes connected with his through the darkness.

* * *

Angelus felt the intensity in her stare. _She knows. Of course, she would know. You're a fool to have thought otherwise. No matter our distance, she will always feel you near. You're in her blood._

Slowly, Angelus stepped back into the bushes and trees deciding now was not the time. He wanted her alone.


	32. Chapter 30

**Next Night**

 **The Bronze**

 _"Let me take you by the hand,_

 _Alway from here to another land._

 _Oh, this land in which we live,_

 _Where people love and are meant to forgive."_

The hip nightclub was filled with young men and women slowly swaying against one another to the sexy, slow music.

From across the club, standing in the darkness, Angelus watched his mate intently. His dark brown eyes mulled over the hypnotic way Elizabeth's hips moved. The slow rock of her body and the sensual way her hands moved up her sides and above her head. Her eyes were closed and lips slightly parted totally engulfed in the haunting rhythm.

 _"And you always put me wrong,_

 _'Cause you're always putting me down."_

Angelus waited until Elizabeth walked off the dance floor. He kept to the shadows and carefully followed her as she moved around the young people moving up the stairs of the balcony.

* * *

The balcony was almost empty, except for a couple heatedly kissing in the corner covered by the dark shadows. Elizabeth wandered across the balcony to the centre. She eyed the couple in the corner. A moment later, the couple broke apart and started down the stairs back to the main area of the club.

Elizabeth stood at the metal railing peering down to the lively young people dancing and enjoying life down before. She spotted a few newly risen vampires on the prowl.

A large hand came around her resting on her chest, over her dead heart. His hand slowly slid up around her throat. Angelus appeared behind Elizabeth pressing his solid body behind her. His large hand holding her throat seductively moved to her shoulders.

"How did you find me here?" Elizabeth heard herself say.

Angelus nipped the mark scarring her neck with his lips and whispered intimately into her ear, "If I were blind, I would see you."

"We can't Angel." Elizabeth turned her head to him looking up at him from under her long mascaraed lashes.

"We can do anything, my Buffy."

"Angelus," Elizabeth whispered breathlessly trying to push him away, but he did not budge.

"Don't push me away, Buffy." Angelus' grip on her tightened. His tongue licked the cool skin of her neck to her ear. "Don't try to stop me. You know you want me. Despite that curse stuck in your body. You want _me_. Your body tells me so." He bit her earlobe with a predatory hiss.

Elizabeth gasped at the feel of his large soft hands moving down her body sensually until they reached the hem of her skirt. Her green eyes squeezed shut when she heard the soft sound of his leather pants zipper come undone and felt his hard member poking her bottom. "Angel," Elizabeth gripped the railing until her knuckles turned white.

Angelus rolled his hips thrusting inside of her with a moan. His handsome features shifted into his demonic ones. Angelus lowered his head opening his fanged mouth wide and bit into her neck over his scars. The bite was a reminder to her of the claim he had over her. He, himself barred the same mark on his neck when gave himself to her.

He drew out his fangs and opened his eyes to her beautiful face and saw that she had closed her eyes. "No. Don't close your eyes. Let me see them."

Slowly and hesitantly, Elizabeth turned head and looked up into his golden eyes. Her green eyes were focused and filled with arousing desire. With his hand, Angelus cupped her cheek still moving against her in a fluid motion. He bent down his head slightly and captured her mouth in a passionate and hungry kiss.

This was the first kiss they had shared in months. Angelus plunged his tongue in-between her lips forcing his way in, though it did not take much. Apparently, much to Angelus' pleasure, it seemed, Elizabeth wanted him as much as he wanted her.

It was so easy for Elizabeth to fall back into his kisses. They were always so soft, moist, and filled with passion. Her one hand moved from the railing and tangled itself through the hair in the back of his head. The other hand on the railing circled around back to his bare bottom. He grunted smiling into their kiss when she squeezed his buttocks, digging her fingers into his cheek wanting him to move deeper inside her.

Angelus pushed them away from the balcony that looked over the large crowds of the club. He pulled out of her and twisted her around to face him fully. Angelus backed her up until her back hit the wall. Elizabeth stared up at him and held her hands onto the strong breast muscles of his chest then slid her hands up and around his neck threading into his hair.

Smirking triumphantly, his plan was falling into place. He was not going to waste this opportunity to not only be with his lover and mate again but to give her perfect happiness of being with him again.

Angelus lifted her by the backs of her knees. Elizabeth's legs went instinctively around his waist. There was not much time to settle against him when Angelus buried his cock deep in her womb with one swift motion. Their eyes never veered off each other's faces as they passionately fucked against the wall in the shadows of the local dance club.

* * *

Sometime later, the music of down below continued on getting louder and grungier as the night drew on.

Angelus leant back against the wall zippering up the fly of his leather pants. He had morphed back into his human disguise sometime ago he was unsure when.

He watched her closely waiting for something—anything to change within her. Anything that told him that she had experienced perfect happiness and she would come back to him. But nothing happened. If anything, Elizabeth's beautiful eyes held guilt and a bit of irritation.

Elizabeth felt his stare on her but decided to ignore it all together. She faced him and asked, "Why did you do that?"

Angelus looked at her somewhat surprised by her off-handed question. "Isn't it obvious? I wanted you. And you wanted me. Buffy, we are meant for each other. We're bonded together, in death do we never part. I see what you're doing here now. Joining the Scooby Doo crew but honestly, love, do you really think that's the way to understand your soul—to find yourself again?"

"It's better than being miserable all of the time. At least now, I have a purpose. I can't sulk around like I did anymore. I almost killed myself—"

Angelus' head shot up hearing her last few words. "What? When did you _almost_ kill yourself? What are you talking about?"

Elizabeth immediately regretted telling him that, knowing full well that his reaction would be less than pleasant. "Um... after you left. I saw the ghosts of my victims. It called itself, The First. It wanted me to go back to what I was and I couldn't. Giles and... Jenny found me sitting in the gardens just as the sun was rising. It was going to be a bright sun shining day."

"Why?" Angelus dead heart sank with worry and anger that something pushed to her hard enough to the breaking point. _I should_ _have_ _never left. I should have tied her down kicking and screaming._ His Buffy didn't have a breaking point. _She was the one, who would find that last nerve and break you into pieces with it. It was brilliant._

"I'd rather die than be a monster, Angel. Don't you get it?" She looked at him with sad eyes. "We can't be together because you're not ready."

"What do you mean, I'm not ready? I'm plenty ready. I came back for you. What we just shared, that was pure passion."

"And that's all that it was. Passion, desire, hunger..." Elizabeth told him gently. "You're right. I do want you. I've always wanted you. We've had a long, _long_ and wonderful life together. We've had a bicentennial for Christ-sake. I love you, so much, Angel—but you're not ready to accept me."

Angelus stepped forward taking her hands. Before his eyes, he saw his entire plan backfiring in his face. "I do accept you."

Elizabeth looked at him meaningfully and tilted her head slightly to the side. "Do you?" He nodded his head and kissing her knuckles then held her hand against his face. "Then tell me that you love me." Heartbroken, Elizabeth watched his face fall as his eyes lifted to hers. "Tell me that you love my soul."

Angelus was silent. The four simple words were sitting on the tip of his tongue but nothing came out. All he could do was stare at her. She hadn't felt perfect happiness in being with him again like he thought she would. Instead, she felt a passion and unstated hunger in being with him again. She loved him and she wanted him, and still, it was not enough for her.

Paralysed to where he stood, he watched his mate. The face of his salvation turned her back to him.

For a moment, a distant memory flashed into his mind. He was standing in the boisterous streets of Paris. All of the screams of battle and muskets firing were lost to his ears as he stared ahead. He waited anxiously, desperately hoping that she would look back at him giving her a sign that she felt something for him. A moment later, her head turned and her beautiful green eyes locked with his. It was just for a moment, but it was enough to tell him everything.

Blinking back to reality, Angelus watched Elizabeth move the same way towards the stairs leading back to the nightclub crowds. He waited anxiously, as he did then for her to look back at him giving him something—anything that told him that she cared. When Elizabeth walked down the stairs and never looked back at him, Angelus knew, he had lost his mate for good.

 _ **Song Used: "Put Me Down" The Cranberries, 1993**_


	33. Chapter 31

**(2 Years Later)**

 **Sunnydale, California 1999**

 **Crawford Mansion**

Time had passed since Elizabeth set foot into the place she spent decades living in with her mate. Her luscious garden was long dead and dried. Being neglected for so long caused too much damage for the plants to survive in the Southern Californian weather.

When she entered the quiet mansion, she was unsurprised to see a dim golden light flickering against the stone grey walls from the fireplace.

Elizabeth moved around and stepped into the main area. She immediately felt another presence in the room but more than that, it was a familiar presence. A warm tingle swished in the pit of her stomach. "Come out, Angel."

Angelus stepped out from the shadows wearing a small smile that had always made her knees weak. Her eyes ran over him. He was as handsome as ever wearing a black v-neck sweater and a pair of matching trousers. The dark tones of his clothing only intensified his handsome and menacing features.

"You came back." He said running his eyes over her sadly remembering their last encounter two years earlier. He ran his eyes over her and found that she was heartbreakingly beautiful; which was never anything knew. But a part of him wanted to her be starving for him. He'd never voice aloud the hurt he felt knowing she could survive perfectly well without him.

"What do _you_ want?" His question came out a bit harsher than he intended. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to you, didn't you say that we were over unless I looked you in the eyes and told you that I loved your soul or something?"

"I never said we were over." She had no idea how ended up her. Earlier in the evening, Elizabeth had been patrolling Restfield Cemetery, while Faith and the other's took other sections of town. Out of pure nostalgia, Elizabeth journeyed to the lux Mansion never expecting to run into Angelus.

Now that she was here and facing him one again, Elizabeth couldn't help but feel relieved. She missed him more than she could put into words. "I said, that you weren't ready for us to be... _us_ again. But I feel you... all the time. You're inside me, Angel. I know when you're near and it throws me." There was a time for a few months after their final breakup, Elizabeth couldn't feel him. She panicked thinking it was because their bond has been severed, but Angelus had taken off to regroup. "The other night, I _almost_ got myself killed because you were hiding in the bushes at the cemetery watching me." She glared at him with annoyance.

"Ah, yes, the other night," Angelus began to slowly step into her space, "when I witnessed you killing one of our kind—That was Hector you staked for crying out loud! He was an old friend."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "We've never had friends, _Angelus_."

Angelus smirked coming closer to her. "That's true. We didn't need any." He finally stopped standing an arm's length away from her. "We had each other." He softly smiled almost mockingly so.

"That and we were too psychotic to function around others." She added which only widening Angelus' growing smile.

"Don't let this be over, Buffy," Angelus said with sincerity. He reached out and tucked her straightened blonde hair tenderly behind her ear. "Every second of every day since that night in Paris over two hundred years ago, I've thought of only you." His velvety deep voice was soft and hypnotic. "This time away from you... its worse than any torture." He let his hand drop from her hair to her hand at her side. "Come back to me, my Buffy." His plea was hardly above a whisper.

Elizabeth sighed heavily. For years, she too only thought of her mate. She missed him. That night at the Bronze proved that, though it wasn't a surprise. The meditation training and working alongside the Slayer gave her a sort of purpose, but she knew apart of her was missing. There always going to be a void in her that only Angelus could fill. The longer they spent apart, the more she began to understand the actual depth of her love for this man. It hit her right in the centre of her core. She knew what he was; a demon—a killer. To her, he was her Angel.

Nevertheless, no matter what she felt or how desperately she craved him, they couldn't be. Though Elizabeth loved him more than anything on this doomed planet, she knew Angelus would never feel the same for her. She knew what he thought her as with her human soul; disgusting, worthless, and damaged. The plague inside of her ruined everything she's ever had with the Master Vampire. She was too different now.

"I can't." Elizabeth wanted to wash her mouth with soap the moment the words came out of her mouth.

Angelus clenched his jaw unable to just walk away from her. He finally had the instructions of how to get his mate back. He tore up Satan's law firm in order to get it. All he needed to do was figure it out how to do it. He was so close to his blonde goddess. He closed his eyes breathing in her floral scent, "Buffy,"

"Please, Angel." She stepped away from him. "Too much has happened. I can't be the woman you want me to be. I can't be that _demon_ anymore. I love you so much, my Angel but I _hate_ myself. I can't go on like that. I can't add any more guilt to the pile. If we stayed together... You'll get tired of me." Angelus began to shake his head with disagreement. "I won't be the killer you fell in love with. Soon, you'd figure that out and you'll be screaming to the Devil demanding to know why you stayed. I can't share the curse of this soul with you. I can't... Please, know that I love you enough not to change you—to not force you into something like this."

Angelus shook his head refusing to let this be the end. He cupped her face with his hands forcing her tear-filled eyes to look at him. "What if I told you, that I didn't care? What if I told you, that I want you regardless of your soul? I just want _you_ , Buffy. I've always wanted you." He saw her reluctance. He thought quickly and added, "Before you left me—twice, you asked if I could honestly look you in the eyes and tell you that I still loved you. That I loved your soul." His dark eyes focused into her own. "Well, I'm looking, Buf." His eyes stared directly into hers. "I may not possess a soul. I maybe an Evil sonuvabitch, but I can feel it. I feel my love for you. It's there. Somewhere inside me, floating in the black abyss of hatred and death, I feel my love for you. Your soul doesn't repulse me because it's a part of you."

Elizabeth stared at him with disbelieving eyes. For months she's been repeatedly convincing herself that Angelus would be revolted by her and that night at the Bronze was just a moment of weakness. She almost had herself going that he would really hate her now because of it.

"I would've even loved that spoiled little brat that had every man falling at her feet. It wasn't your demon that made me love you nor was it your beauty. It was just _you_. This soul... its a part of you. I admit I didn't understand it before. I had a hard time accepting that you changed. But it wasn't until I realised that it was just another part of you that I wanted. Everything that you are, I love. You're the only person I have ever loved. The only one."

Elizabeth slowly stepped into his arms. She held her hand flat against the side of his face, feeling his cool skin under her fingertips.

Unable to hold back a moment longer, Angelus wrapped his arms around her slim body, hugging her tightly into his chest. He buried his face into her blonde hair, breathing in her familiar floral scent which always sent him into a spiral.

Angelus drew his head back, looking down at her. He threaded his fingers through her hair, running them through the silk strands. She always fitted perfectly in his arms as if his body was moulded for her.

"I'm going to kiss you now." He cupped her cheek and watched her warmly smile at him. It was a smile he missed seeing so much. The last time he had her in this position; close to him, touching him, they only shared passion. There was a missing piece she needed and Angelus could not fulfil it quite yet. But now, he honestly believed that he could.

Their lips slowly met in a soft and open kiss. They sighed heavily relieved to feel each other's kisses once again. Their slow and tender kiss quickly deepened the kiss. Angelus' hands slid from her hair, down her back and around her bottom. It did not take long for their passionate embrace to become an agonising attempt to keep control.

Elizabeth jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. His hands were around her bottom, keeping her steady. He turned them towards the stairway leading up to the master bedroom where'd he prove himself to her.

* * *

Angelus kicked the wooden large door open with his foot and kicked it shut with the heel of his boot.

He gently settled her down onto her feet, at the edge of the bed and stepped back watching her as she stood. Her eyes were filled with a brightness Angelus could obsess over for decades to come. Elizabeth reached out and dragged the dark sweater clinging to his muscular chest up his torso, and over his head before dropping over the edge of the bed.

With a smug confident smirk, Angelus took her hand and turned her around pressing her back against his bare cool chest. His mouth kissed down her neck, over his scar and to her shoulders. His large hand wrapped around her left hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed the ring that resided there for that last two hundred years.

As his mouth manipulated her skin, his hands toyed with the hem of her blouse lifting it higher and higher until it was completely off. His hands covered over her breasts squeezing them then slipped down her slim body to the buttons of her pants.

Elizabeth faced him, never leaving his touch and proceeded to unbuckle his trousers. She pushed them down his hips. Comically, Angelus kicked them off along with his shoes. If his heart could beat, it would've stopped at the sound of her girlish giggle as he almost toppled over trying to kick off the remainder of his trousers. It felt like an eternity since he last heard her laugh. It was just as mesmerising as her breathless voice. Angelus leant forward and captured her mouth. He sucked on her tongue as she removed the rest of her clothing from her body.

He hooked his arm around her naked body and laid her back across the large mattress.

There wasn't any need for foreplay. The yearning for one another was enough to create heat and desire between them. Angelus paused his movements for a moment, much to Elizabeth's surprise. He sat back on his knees looking down at her. His dark eyes were hooded over and a small smirk played across his lips.

With a large hand, he wrapped it around her throat, and in with one smooth motion, his hand slid down, between her perky breasts, over her flat stomach, until finally reaching her centre. Angelus watched as her eyes closed and hers pinched together slightly as he manipulated her body. He leant forward, hovering his face over her and kissed her mouth.

His free hand reached between their bodies and grasped his standing cock. After a few slow strokes, Angelus guided himself to her centre.

Releasing an unneeded breath, Angelus wanted to relish the feeling her tight walls that immediately warmed his body. He knew her body like the back of his hand. Every time they mated together, Angelus always took a few moments to memorise her. After a hundred and forty odd years, the feeling of her tight body was always a transcendent experience.

* * *

Quiet was something that was as rare as a Middlemist Red flower. Demons are continuously stereotyped as those who crave chaos and destruction. Though that is true, there are those strange few demons; usually, older demons possessing world's of sophistication, intelligence, and infinite wisdom that craved for the quietness.

The mansion was quiet. Passion, heat from the bedroom fireplace, and love filled the crisp air.

With a soft, pleasantly exhausted moan, Elizabeth snuggled closer into the hard body, wrapping an arm around Angelus' waist with a soft purr.

In his blissful sleep, Angelus smiled holding his forever lover in his arms. He wasn't sure when he finally decided. But some time he decided that whether Elizabeth possessed her soul or not, he needed her. Just like he always did. It didn't matter in which way he had her. Tonight proved that to him. Elizabeth hadn't lost her passion or fire despite her soul.

They had done something they have never done before. Most call it, making love. It was slow, tender, intense as times, fervent, and perfect. Only for each other did they ever reveal their true selves.

Suddenly, Elizabeth's eyes flew open. She tore herself from his protecting arms.

"Buffy?" Angelus jumped out of the bed as soon as she did. "Buf?" Elizabeth moved quickly, throwing on Angelus' large sweater over her naked body and ran out of the bedroom gasping in pain.

"Buffy!" He called out to her with terrified worry. "Goddamn it! Buffy!" Angelus jumped into his trousers as fast as he could then stumbled after her.

Elizabeth threw open the front door and ran outside into the darkness. She almost reached the edge of the long yard when she finally fell to the ground unable to hold herself up on her feet any longer. She gritted her teeth and cried out in pain.

Angelus ran out of the mansion and skidded his feet to a stop when he saw Elizabeth hunched over in the grass. "Buffy!"

Her screams had stopped suddenly.

"Buffy? My love?" Cautiously, Angelus approached her and held out his hand to touch his shoulder when Elizabeth swiftly rose to her feet. The agonising pain that had ignited through her entire body had disappeared into thin air. Angelus watched her closely and opened his mouth to say something else when Elizabeth whipped around facing him. A slow dark smile crept across her heart-shaped pink lips.

Angelus recognised that smile. He watched her green eyes twinkle in the moonlight. He matched her smile with his own and laughed with happiness.

She was back.

END.

 **LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU DIG IT! KEEP BEING GROOVY, PEACE AND LOVE**

 **P.S. IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, CHECK OUT _"Make It With You"_**


	34. Sequel Alert

**Sequel Alert:**

Title: SOUR GIRL

After experiencing perfect happiness, Elizabeth is back and with a vengeance. There are new evil forces in town of Sunnydale that will challenge Elizabeth and Angelus for the throne of the Underworld. Will the legendary vampire couple turn to their enemies for help? Or will the world be sucked into a Hell of another dimension?

 **It's currently available to read!** **Leave a review and/or message me and let me know if you dig it!**

 **Other stories to check out: _"Reflecting Light"_ Buffy/Angel & _"Winterwood"_ Buffy/Graham**

 **Peace and Love**

P.S. _Fun fact: For those who are wondering "Ballade No2, Op38" is actually a piece composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1836-1839. When I first heard this piece, I immediately thought of Buffy and Angel. Its pretty cool if you check it out!_


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